Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Steve Diamond has confirmed England centre Manu Tuilagi will be ruled out for six months with a torn Achilles tendon.
The former Leicester Tigers man sustained the injury against Northampton Saints on Tuesday evening and it means Tuilagi will miss the remainder of Sale’s Premiership campaign as well as England’s upcoming internationals.
The 29-year-old, who has featured seven times for Sale since rugby’s restart, will have surgery on the injury next week.
“Manu will be a loss to England and Sale,” said Diamond on Thursday afternoon. “He’ll be out for six months. It’s brutal what we’re playing at the minute.
“Dan Biggar fell on him, so it was an accident. These things happen. I think it might have been a jinx, me saying before the game that we’ve got nine out of nine games out of him and boom, that happens. So I’ll keep my trap shut in future.
“Rather selfishly, after this game and the play-offs we probably wouldn’t have seen Manu until April with the England commitments and EPS rest periods.”
Sale will now be without Tuilagi for their final game of the regular domestic season against Worcester Warriors on Sunday with the Sharks vying for a Premiership play-off spot for the first since 2006.
