Jordan Crane out for eight weeks
Leicester and England number eight Jordan Crane will miss the first eight weeks of the season after having surgery on his ankle.
Crane had been troubled by an ankle problem throughout the pre-season schedule and it seems that Leicester wanted him to get the problem sorted out before the Premiership season kicks into the business end later in the year.
Coach Richard Cockerill said: "Jordan has had surgery on some ligament damage in his ankle to clean that up. It's a bit worse than we first feared. It will be physically hard and the new interpretations of the laws will make it fast and furious."
Leicester will now have to work very hard and provide a number of services to the player so there are no set-backs in his rehabilitation. England are also likely to offer medical support as they will want the player fit for late autumn Test matches.
A shrewd move
This is a very shrewd decision by both the player and his club because many sides would have filled their player with pain killers in the hopes that he could make it through important early matches. It is sensible to go ahead with the surgery, although it would have been tempting to delay it until after the season had started.
Leicester are lucky to have a high quality replacement at number eight in Thomas Waldrom who can come into the side and make sure that the impact of Crane's absence is limited. Waldrom is likely to raise his performance levels because he may not have expected to be in the side for the start of the season.
The club and the England set-up must now wrap Crane up in cotton wool to make sure there are no problems as he recovers from the ankle surgery. Any problems could result in the player being out through November and only getting back into shape by Christmas time.
Cockerill added: "It's just hard to predict how people will come out of the traps because each club has approached their season differently. Saints have played three games, we have played four and Saracens have played seven."
Betting advice
Leicester should be able to cope without Crane but there is no doubt that he makes them a much stronger unit. Waldrom should come in and relish the chance he has been given. There's no reason not to back the Tigers if you were thinking of doing so.
Tags: