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Red Rose blow

Manu Tuilagi hands England boss Eddie Jones huge injury scare ahead of Australia tour

Leicester centre hobbled off clutching his hamstring and Sarries kicker Owen Farrell also took knock to ribs

MANU TUILAGI has dealt England a huge scare ahead of their tour of Australia after suffering a hamstring injury.

The Leicester Tigers centre lasted just 21 minutes before limping off in their 44-17 semi-final defeat to Saracens.

 Manu Tuilagi gave Eddie Jones a headache over injuries after hobbling off with a pulled hamstring
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Manu Tuilagi gave Eddie Jones a headache over injuries after hobbling off with a pulled hamstring

Red Rose boss Eddie Jones is likely to still name the 25-year-old in his England squad tomorrow before assessing the damage.

Tigers boss Richard Cockerill said: "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.

 Tuilagi may now be a major doubt for the tour of Australia
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Tuilagi may now be a major doubt for the tour of Australia
 The England centre has given boss Jones a selection nightmare
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The England centre has given boss Jones a selection nightmare

"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."

 Tuilagi was forced to miss three-quarters of the game through injury
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Tuilagi was forced to miss three-quarters of the game through injury

Tuilagi made just one sub appearance during the Six Nations Grand Slam winning campaign as he made his return from a nightmare 15 months out.

Owen Farrell, who kicked 11 points, will also be an injury concern for Jones after he was forced off after a blow to the ribs.

 Farrell also required medical attention
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Farrell also required medical attention

Saracens chief Mark McCall said: "Owen Farrell got a rib injury and I don’t know the extent of that yet.

"He’s got a bang on the rib and you know ribs can go one way or another. Hopefully it goes the right way."