The Leicester hooker Tom Youngs will miss England’s autumn internationals having had a shoulder operation this week that will rule him out until the end of the year. His absence adds to the injury problems of the Tigers, who were already missing 10 players when they suffered their heaviest ever Premiership defeat on Saturday, 45-0 at Bath.
Youngs, who missed England’s summer tour to New Zealand for family reasons, popped his shoulder within minutes of coming on as a second-half replacement at the Recreation Ground. The wing Niall Morris then suffered ankle ligament damage that will lay him off for six weeks while the England second-row Geoff Parling is being monitored this week after taking another blow to the head.
“Tom carried the ball into contact, Dave Attwood fell on him and the shoulder popped out,” said Leicester’s director of rugby, Richard Cockerill. “He will be out until Christmas, which is disappointing for us because he is a world-class player who gives you great impact whether he starts or comes off the bench.”
Leicester, who face London Irish on Saturday at Welford Road, are without two international props, Dan Cole and Marcos Ayerza, their captain, Ed Slater, the centres Manu Tuilagi and Anthony Allen and the wing Miles Benjamin among others, while the scrum-half David Mele will have a disciplinary hearing after being sent off against Bath for stamping.
“We have to dust ourselves off against London Irish,” said Cockerill. “We were outmuscled from the first minute at Bath and, as the snowball got bigger, we could not cope with it and fell apart. In adversity, you have to show what you are made of. We were missing a number of players at the weekend but we should have been better. If you don’t get it right in this league, you get beaten. We got it nowhere near right at Bath and were soundly beaten but we live to fight another day.”
Parling will not play against London Irish after suffering a second concussion in three matches and Cockerill said the lock would not play again until he had been given the all-clear by the club’s medical staff.
“We are waiting for advice from the specialist but Geoff will not be involved this week and he may need some stand-down time,” said Cockerill. “This is about concern for his health: playing is secondary. You would like to think that, with the right expertise and time, he will be fine but I am not a medical expert. He is going through the protocols and we will listen to the people who know what they are talking about.”
Cockerill expects Tuilagi to be fit for the trip on 4 October to Gloucester, whose centre Henry Trinder, a member of England’s squad in New Zealand, has this week had shoulder surgery. The club has not said how long it expects him to be out for.
