Julian White will miss England's autumn internationals after tearing his hamstring in Leicester's loss to London Irish.
Prop becomes the latest name to be added to lengthy casualty list
Julian White will miss England's autumn internationals after tearing his hamstring in Leicester's 18-12 loss to London Irish.
Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill confirmed the bad news after the prop went off just five minutes into the Guinness Premiership fixture.
The news on the 36-year-old will not please England team manager Martin Johnson, who was watching from the stands at the Madejski Stadium.
White seemed a certain starter for his country after fellow front-rowers Andrew Sheridan and Phil Vickery were ruled out through injury.
Setback
"Julian has torn his right hamstring and will not be available for international duty," Cockerill said.
"Harry Ellis is having rehab on his knee and we expect him back between seven and 14 days. But I doubt very much if he'll be involved with England's early autumn games either."
The disappointment of seeing White limp off was compounded for Leicester by the fact they were beaten on their travels.
But despite the reverse, Cockerill was not too downhearted to be heading home with a losing bonus point - even if he admitted his side could play better.
"Away from home, this is a good point, but there's a lot of frustration in the dressing room because we could have played better," he added.
"It was a tight game which remained in the balance right up to the finish. Irish earned their win well but we know we had more in the locker."
Meanwhile, London Irish boss Toby Booth was left singing the praises of Ryan Lamb after the fly-half kicked all his side's points.
The off-season recruit from Gloucester booted his new employers to the top of the table, albeit possibly for only 24 hours with Saracens in action on Sunday.
Spirit
"Ryan is only 22, and he is still learning to control a game," Booth said. "If he continues to do that, however, I am sure England will come to have a look at him.
Of the game itself, he added: "Leicester are a top team and the reigning champions. We had to earn the right to this win and I am very proud of the spirit and effort shown by the players.
"Everyone talked about how and why we lost narrowly at home to Llanelli Scarlets here last weekend, but we discussed it in-house and all you can do then is expect a response. We got a fine response.
"Last season we took a series of losing bonus points when we played Leicester, so it is very satisfying to turn that into four winners' points, and on merit."
