Hamstring injury likely to keep Manu Tuilagi out of Australia tour

Leicester Tigers centre Manu Tuilagi is likely to miss England's tour of Australia next month after suffering a hamstring injury during the play-off against Saracens at the Allianz Park on Saturday.

Tuilagi left the field after 20 minutes of play in a bid to ankle tap Saracens winger Chris Wyles and it is revealed that he is suffering from a grade two tear which needs six weeks of rehabilitation.

With England head coach Eddie Jones likely to announce the squad for the encounter against Wales on Sunday, it is unlikely the 25-year-old will feature in it.

Tuilagi's career has always been an injury prone one as a groin injury ruled him out of action for 15 months and later was sidelined with knee and hamstring injuries.

In his last two years, Tuilagi appeared for England on just one occasion during the Six Nations encounter against Wales in March.

Director of rugby at Leicester Richard Cockerill revealed they are yet to assess the seriousness of Tuilagi's hamstring injury.

"Manu has pulled his hamstring. I don't know how bad it is, but it's not great. We'll assess it over the next couple of days," Cockerill said.

"We don't know if he's out of the tour, we'll see how he gets on in the next 48 hours before assessing how bad it is.
"It happens. He's a powerful athlete and he's tweaked his hamstring. That's life, he'll get over it.

"It's not ideal because he came off pretty quickly. It doesn't look brilliant, but we'll see."

Even though losing a player like Tuilagi had an impact on the game, Cockerill refused to blame his side's defeat to Saracens to the early exit of the England international.

Crediting Saracens for their game play, the former hooker also expressed his unhappiness over the artificial pitch used at the Allianz Park which was implemented in 2013.

"If you get more purchase on the pitch, you put more force through your body and that causes more problems," Cockerill said.

"I'm not a fan of the artificial pitches at all. For me they could take them all out and make every Premiership side have a DESSO field (grass mixed with natural fibres) or a proper grass one that's mixed so that you have a good surface for the whole year.

"For me artificial pitches are not for rugby union, there should be minimum standards of grass pitches across the Premiership. Rugby should be played on grass.

"My own opinion is that artificial pitches are not great for the body, but I'm sure you could find an argument either way.

"If you lose Manu that will affect you because he's world class, but that wasn't the deciding factor in the game. They played better than us and deserved to win."

Meanwhile, Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell also suffered a rib injury during the game which casts a doubt on his appearance in the final against Exeter and also England's tour of Australia.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall is hopeful of the 24-year-old recovering in time for the crucial final against Exeter.

"I don't how serious it is. He's got a bang on the rib and you know ribs can go one way or another. Hopefully it goes the right way," McCall said.