TOBY FLOOD LOOKS set to miss the opening games of England’s Six Nations defence with a knee injury.
The out-half has been ruled out of action for four to six weeks after he damaged ligaments during the Leicester Tigers’ win over Sale last Sunday.
Flood will now miss Leicester’s final two Heineken Cup pool games, including the crunch meeting with Ulster at Ravenhill next Friday, and is unlikely to be fit in time for England’s game against Scotland on 4 February.
The news comes as a further blow to Leicester who have also lost Louis Deacon and Manu Tuilagi to hamstring injuries in recent weeks. The Aviva Premiership club currently lie second in a fiercely competitive Heineken Cup Pool 4, two points behind Ulster and just one ahead of Clermont.
Tigers’ director of rugby Richard Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury that Flood’s injury was not as serious as had once been feared.
“He hurt his knee on Sunday against Sale and we initially thought it was just like a dead leg,” said Cockerill. ”But it swelled up overnight and he went to see a specialist to determine the exact nature of the injury.
It turns out that he has tweaked his ligaments and is likely to be out for four to six weeks, which was not as bad as we feared at one stage.
