Manu Tuilagi will miss England’s autumn international against New Zealand after suffering a recurrence of his groin injury in Leicester’s European Rugby Champions Cup win over Ulster.
The 23-year-old centre, capped 25 times, left the field early during the Tigers’ 25-18 victory on Saturday.
He could still be named in England’s autumn Test squad on Wednesday.
But Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “I’d be very surprised if Manu plays any part in the autumn.”
England play New Zealand on 8 November, with games against South Africa, Samoa and Australia to follow.
Tuilagi sat out three Premiership games earlier this season because of the injury.
Speaking on Saturday, Cockerill told BBC Sport: “It’s a recurrence of his groin, which is not great. That was three weeks last time.
England’s autumn internationals |
|
|---|---|
|
All fixtures at Twickenham |
|
|
Opposition |
Date |
|
New Zealand |
Saturday, 8 November |
|
South Africa |
Saturday, 15 November |
|
Samoa |
Saturday, 22 November |
|
Australia |
Saturday, 29 November |
“The way he plays, you just can’t play with that sort of problem.”
England head coach Stuart Lancaster is already without props Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero and Mako Vunipola, hooker Tom Youngs, locks Geoff Parling and Ed Slater, and flankers Tom Croft and Tom Johnson.
