Gloucester hooker George McGuigan has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a “significant” hamstring injury.
The 30-year-old has had surgery and will be out for the last couple months of the Premiership campaign.
“Most likely that’s his season,” director of rugby George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
“It’s very unlucky because he’s been an outstanding performer for us, he had some brilliant matches and I think he found his groove at Gloucester after a settling in period.
“We’ve got some other good hookers – Seb Blake’s been going really well, Santi Socino’s not a million miles off – those guys will step in and do a great job no doubt, but obviously from George’s point of view it’s frustrating – and frustrating for us – but it’s the nature of the beast.”
Gloucester travel to Welford Road to take on the Tigers again on Friday, in their first Premiership game since the end of January, where they will compete for the Slater Cup in honour of former lock Ed Slater, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2022.
However, captain Lewis Ludlow will also be unavailable for the game because of a foot injury “niggle”.
