Tuilagi gives England injury scare ahead of Australia

2:51 PM GMT

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  Tom HamiltonRugby Editor

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  • Joined ESPN in 2011
  • Grew up in Bath but has New Zealand roots
  • Covered England for the past two seasons, including their tour to New Zealand
  • Was ESPN's man on the ground for the 2013 British & Irish Lions series

England face a nervous wait over Manu Tuilagi ahead of the Australia tour after he limped off with a hamstring injury in Leicester's Aviva Premiership semifinal defeat to Saracens.

Tuilagi picked up the injury chasing Chris Wyles as he sprinted away for Saracens' second try in the 22nd minute. After receiving treatment, he limped off and was later seen with his right hamstring strapped and iced.

England name the squad for the Australia tour on Sunday and while Tigers boss Richard Cockerill did not want to put a time frame on Tuilagi's injury he admitted: "Manu has pulled his hamstring. I don't know how bad it is, but it's not great. We'll assess it over the next couple of days.

"He's a powerful athlete. That's life, he'll get over it. It's not ideal because he came off pretty quickly. It doesn't look brilliant, but we'll see.

"If you lose Manu that will affect you because he's world class, but that wasn't the deciding factor in the game. They played better than us and deserved to win."

Saracens booked their place in the Premiership final thanks to the 41-17 triumph and had an injury scare of their own when Owen Farrell was forced off with a knock to the ribs but coach Mark McCall is optimistic it won't keep him out of next weekend's match against either Wasps or Exeter.

"I don't know the extent of that rib injury, but hopefully he'll be fit for Saturday," McCall said of Farrell and the Sarries coach was also full of praise for Alex Goode and Chris Ashton who will both hope to be in the mix for the three-Test series against the Wallabies.

Saracens' artificial pitch came in for criticism during the week with Leicester lock Ed Slater speaking of his dislike for the surface. He picked up a knee injury in January at Allianz Park while playing for Leicester and while Cockerill did not put Tuilagi's injury down to the nature of the surface, he echoed Slater's sentiments.

"If you get more purchase on the pitch, you put more force through your body and that causes more problems," Cockerill said. "I'm not a fan of the artificial pitches at all. Rugby should be played on grass."

Leicester's season is now at an end but Saracens will look to complete a double next weekend as they seek to add the Premiership title to the Champions Cup they won last Saturday in Lyon.

"It would mean a huge amount to complete the double," McCall said. "This is our fifth final in the last three years out of a possible six. We lost the semifinal to Clermont in the Champions Cup last year and when you get to the final you want to win. If we are going to win against sides like Wasps and Exeter then we need to be better than we were today."

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Tuilagi gives England injury scare ahead of Australia