Ellis carried injury in Six Nations

England scrum-half Harry Ellis played through the pain in the Six Nations.

England scrum-half Harry Ellis played through the pain in the recent Six Nations with a shin injury that Leicester coach Pat Howard admits "affected his form".

The Tigers star is to be rested for the Guinness Premiership clash with Northampton on Friday after suffering from the complaint since early this year.

He started four of England's five Six Nations games - coming off the bench in the other one in Paris - and received mixed reviews for his displays.

But Howard revealed: "Harry's been dealing with a shin problem for three or four months and that's affected his form.

"We manage our players as well as we can at Leicester and at times we have to rest players."

Meanwhile, Leicester are to release fly-half Ross Broadfoot at the end of the season.

The 21-year-old started 14 games for the Tigers over the last two seasons, but his opportunities next season would have been even more limited following the arrival of Paul Burke from Munster.

Leicester will also release former Wales and Lions prop Darren Morris at the end of the season.