With the end of year tours just over six weeks away there is some bad news for two of the top centres who would have been looking forward for turning out for their countries against Southern Hemisphere opponents. England’s Manu Tuilagi joins team mate Brad Barritt on the sidelines while Lions and Wales centre Jamie Roberts also looks set to miss out on the action due to injury.
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Manu Tuilagi:
Manu Tuilagi could miss England’s November international programme after Leicester coach Richard Cockerill said on Tuesday the dynamic centre had suffered a suspected torn pectoral muscle injury.
Tuilagi sustained the injury in the Premiership champions’ 31-6 win over Newcastle on Saturday, his first match since featuring in the British and Irish Lions’ 2-1 series win in Australia.
“Manu Tuilagi has a suspected torn pec muscle in his chest,” said Cockerill.
“He’s having further investigation into that. Until we know exactly what the damage is it is hard to tell how long he will be out, but you’d think it is certainly weeks, leading to months potentially, rather than days.
“He did it in a tackle in the final minutes of the game on Saturday. Hopefully, he has just partially torn a pec muscle – we’re having it assessed. But it could mean surgery, depending on how severe it is.”
Tuilagi’s injury is a fresh setback for England coach Stuart Lancaster, already without Leicester teammate Tom Croft and Saracens centre Brad Barritt for November’s internationals due to knee and foot problems respectively.
Depending on the severity of the injury, the 22-year-old Tuilagi could miss one or all of England’s Twickenham encounters against Australia (November 2), Argentina (November 9) and world champions New Zealand (November 16).
Billy Twelvetrees and Kyle Eastmond are now the remaining fit centres in Lancaster’s elite player squad.
Samoa-born Tuilagi had a hand in creating two of Leicester’s five tries against Newcastle before coming off with five minutes of the match left. Afterwards, Leicester backs coach Paul Burke said Tuilagi was withdrawn as a precaution following an attack of cramp.
Jamie Roberts:
Wales centre Jamie Roberts looks set to miss the Test against the Springboks in Cardiff on November 9 due to injury.
The 53-Test veteran suffered an ankle injury playing for French club Racing Metro two weeks ago and has subsequently undergone surgery. The 26-year-old is thus likely to miss the Six Nations champions’ Tests against South Africa (November 9), Argentina (November 16), Tonga (November 22) and Australia (November 30).
“The doctors seem to think I’ll be out for a good few months,” said Roberts. “But I will be working on my rehab, trying my best to be fit for selection.”
Racing Metro co-coach Laurent Labit commented: “Jamie has reported back to us after 10 days in Cardiff for the operation. He will be out for at least two months after surgery and will hopefully be back playing some time in November, but he will probably miss the Wales Tests.”