London: Leicester have announced that their England centre Manu Tuilagi will miss the rest of the season due to a cruciate knee ligament injury, which will certainly rule him out of the Six Nations and may have serious implications on his involvement in the Lions tour.

The centre was injured during Leicester’s 12-16 defeat to Saracens, only his sixth game following a two-month lay-off because of a groin problem, and hobbled off after only eight minutes at Welford Road, having fallen awkwardly in a double tackle.

Tuilagi, who has been capped 26 times by England, has been beset by injuries for the past couple of years and this latest injury will rule him out for the season.