"Gutted" - Manu Tuilagi and Owen Farrell injury update: Centre gets his scan results

The 30-year-old had only recently returned from an 18-month England hiatus is now a major doubt for the Six Nations, and Tuilagi will now see a specialist to find out if he needs an operation.

Sanderson said: “Poor Manu. I’m gutted for him and I’m gutted personally too because I thought we were managing him well.

“It’s a grade three tear and we’re waiting for him to see a specialist to find out if he needs an operation.

“We hope, and we think, that it won’t come to that. If it doesn’t need surgery, then I’m told it’ll be 6-8 weeks. If it does, it will be months – probably 12 weeks.”

Asked for an update on his skipper yesterday, Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall said: ‘Owen had an operation on Friday. We know he’ll get back as quickly as he can and hopefully that’s in time to play a game or two for us before the Six Nations.’

The way the fly-half continues to moan to referees vociferously has seemingly only got worse throughout his career. It got so bad that popular online personality and diehard Scotland fan Glove39 made a video called ‘birdman’ mocking the way in which he always raises his arms in frustration.

A flanker that plays on the edge and never fails to get under the skin of opposition fans. His late hit on Stuart Hogg and foul-mouthed war of words with the Kyle Sinckler during the 2019 Six Nations did him no favours. The sort of player you love to have, but also love to hate.

Fails to dazzle on the pitch and is arguably best known for causing a scrap with Owen Farrell prior to the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield in 2018. He was then cited for making contract with the eye area of England number 8 Nathan Hughes. He then pulled this face.

Could it be anybody else? Farrell fits the label “our guy” better than most, meaning you love to hate him unless he’s in your squad. Then you’d go to the end’s of the earth to defend him. The England captain, also known as 'Shoulder boy' for his high tackling, does himself no favours with his poor tackling technique.