Matt Toomua: Leicester centre's knee injury not as bad as feared

Matt Toomua missed most of last season with a knee injury sustained in the Champions Cup match against Racing 92 in October

Australian centre Matt Toomua will miss Leicester's Premiership match against Newcastle on Sunday but his knee injury is not expected to keep him out for more than a couple of weeks.

The 27-year-old missed most of last season with a cruciate ligament injury.

Toomua has been an influential figure this season, but was hurt in Saturday's Champions Cup win over Castres.

Head coach Matt O'Connor told BBC Radio Leicester that the injury is "not nearly as serious as we first thought".

"He has a bit of bone bruising in the joint, but the ligament is sound and intact," O'Connor said.

Tigers are in Anglo-Welsh Cup action following the league game against Newcastle and do not return to Premiership action until 19 November when they host Sale Sharks.

O' Connor added: "The difficulty around bone bruising is you don't really know how long it takes to recover,

"Thankfully we have a couple of down weeks around the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Hopefully he doesn't miss too many games."