Tuilagi injury 'nothing serious' according to Tigers boss

Leicester boss Richard Cockerill says that England centre Manu Tuilagi's hamstring injury is "nothing serious" after his comeback from long-term groin trouble was stalled.

Tuilagi missed Tigers' last-gasp 19-18 Aviva Premiership victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm, and is unlikely to return until at least Leicester's league clash against the Falcons on February 12.

But Cockerill has not ruled out Tuilagi, who was three games into his comeback, being available for Eddie Jones' England at some stage during the RBS 6 Nations Championship this season.

"He probably won't play next week, and he will probably come into it for Newcastle the week after," Cockerill said.

"If he is playing and back fit, then it is up to Eddie. Manu's groin is great, now it is keeping the rest of his body intact as well.

"If he was going to play in the last two [Six Nations games] and he is out for a couple of weeks, that may put him back, but I don't know. We will see.

"If he's fit. great, if he is not ready, then he is not ready.

"Fifteen months out of the game is a long time, and we are trying to manage that and integrate that as sensibly as possible. I think we've done that.

"His hamstring was a bit tight after the Stade Francais game last weekend, and he had it scanned on Monday and there was the tiniest of strains there. It is nothing serious."

On the field, Leicester full-back Tommy Bell kicked the Tigers to a dramatic victory as Gloucester folded after No 8 Ben Morgan was sin-binned with four minutes remaining in the game and Gloucester six points ahead.

Morgan saw yellow for an off-the-ball challenge on Leicester wing Telusa Veainu, and Tigers made their one-man advantage count when substitute prop Logovi'i Mulipola crashed over for a try that Bell converted with a minute left.

Cockerill added: "I was pleased with our resilience to stay in the game. I am pleased we stayed in the arm-wrestle.

"Gloucester should have taken advantage of the opportunities they had, and they didn't, and it always comes back to bite you."

Gloucester rugby director David Humphreys refused to blame Morgan after his team suffered an agonisingly late loss.

"[The yellow card] was a big decision," Humphreys said. "There was some contact, no question, but it certainly wasn't the reason we lost the game.

"If we look back at the game, it was very much in our control, but a couple of key errors at key points of the match meant we couldn't build the score.

"We got ourselves into a position to win the game. The first 15 minutes of the second half, we had a lot of territory and possession, but didn't manage to take those opportunities.

"Against the top teams, you have got to take opportunities as they came along in the opposition 22, and that probably shows the difference between a team in the top half of the table and a team that has been in the bottom half over the last couple of years."