England and Leicester star Tom Croft suffers untimely injury blow

England boss Stuart Lancaster has been dealt a huge injury blow ahead of the autumn internationals with news double-Lion Tom Croft will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

It is a bitter blow to the Leicester Tigers star, who missed much of last season with a serious neck injury, and will mean he will not feature for England in the Six Nations after Christmas as well.

Croft, 27, played in Sunday’s Aviva Premiership opener against Worcester, but damaged his anterior cruciate ligament and had surgery on Tuesday.

After an injury hit spell on the sidelines; Croft returned to form at the backend of last season and won selection ahead of international skipper Chris Robshaw for the Lions tour of Australia.

“We felt it was relatively innocuous but the ACL was ruptured,” said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill.

Croft, who also featured in three Tests for the Lions against South Africa in 2009, has been capped 38 times by England since making his debut against France in 2008.

Cockerill added: “Its horrendous bad luck for Tom because it is only last year that he came back from a very bad neck injury and did so well for England and the Lions as well.

“But these things happen. Tom will make a full recovery but it’s his season over. It’s a blow but we have just got to get on with things.”