Leicester Tigers fly-half Owen Williams will be sidelined for up to nine months after surgery on a knee ligament injury.
Williams, the club’s top scorer this season with 165 points in his 21 appearances, suffered the injury in Tigers’ 43-9 win at Cardiff Blues in the LV= Cup last Saturday.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill: “Owen has now had surgery on his ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] and the full recovery period is usually about nine months.
“It’s obviously massively disappointing news for Owen and for the Tigers because he has been outstanding for us in his two seasons here.
“He is a young man with a big future in the game and we look forward to his return when he is fully recovered. He is in good hands with our medical team and he will start his rehab shortly.
“We have options at fly-half with Freddie Burns, Seremaia Bai, Tommy Bell and David Mele all experienced playing in that position and they are all good players who know our systems and young Oli Bryant also made his senior debut for us this season.”