England scrum-half Ben Youngs faces a second spell on the sidelines in quick succession after a reoccurrence of a knee injury.
Youngs missed all of his country’s summer friendlies after undergoing minor surgery in order to return in time for the World Cup.
The 22-year-old did go on to feature in all five of England’s fixtures at the seventh global gathering but he has since arrived back from New Zealand nursing further damage to his left knee.
He now faces an indeterminate time out of the game – a situation that hasn’t pleased Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill.
"He's a world-class player and left us four months ago fully fit and has come back with a pretty average knee so we need to get on top of that," Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.
"We need to get the full low-down on what happened while he has been with England. We end up taking the hit player-wise but that always seems to be the way.
"His knee isn't great and we have to manage and look after it and make sure he is fully fit when he comes back. But, at the moment, his knee is not good enough to play at this level."
