Manu Tuilagi: Leicester Tigers and England centre out for rest of season

Manu Tuilagi was forced off in the eighth minute of Leicester's 16-12 defeat by Saracens

England and Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi will miss the Six Nations and the rest of the Premiership season with anterior cruciate ligament damage.

The 25-year-old is out for at least six months after he was injured in Sunday's Premiership defeat by Saracens.

He has made just 23 appearances for Tigers since the start of the 2013-14 season because of a string of injuries.

Only one of his 26 England caps has been under Eddie Jones, who was named head coach in November 2015.

The Samoa-born player was forced to pull out of a two-day training camp with the national team after suffering his latest setback.

As well as missing the Six Nations, which starts on 4 February, he will not be available for the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in the summer.

"It's devastating for him," Tigers head coach Aaron Mauger said.

"He's got himself into such a good position, I think he's really matured as a person over the last 12 months and that's probably helped him get back to the space that he's been in.

"He'll have everything he needs to come back a better player and a stronger person and I'm sure he will."

Tuilagi's injury history

Tuilagi last started an England game in June 2014, before sustaining a groin injury in September of that year which kept him sidelined for 15 months.

He had previously missed two games of the 2012 Six Nations campaign with a hamstring problem, and all but one game of the 2014 tournament after tearing a pectoral muscle.

A further recurrence of his groin injury in Tigers' opening game of the current Premiership season on 2 September then forced him to miss almost three months of action, making his return in a win over Bristol on 25 November.