Rees will sit out six to nine months with his new injury © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Tom Rees | Dai Young

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Teams: England

London Wasps have suffered a huge blow ahead of the new Aviva Premiership season with confirmation that injury-plagued openside Tom Rees will be forced to sit out the majority of the campaign.

Rees will be sidelined for six to nine months having undergone surgery after rupturing his Anterior Cruciate Ligament against Agen in a pre-season game at the weekend. The news is the latest in a series of setbacks for the 26-year-old who has seen much of his promising career blighted by injury.

A member of England's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad, Rees won the last of his 15 Test caps against New Zealand in 2008 before a knee ligament injury suffered on domestic duty ruled him out of the 2009 Six Nations.

He would later miss the majority of the 2009-10 season with a shoulder injury but battled back to fitness and started the following campaign strongly. However, in December 2010 it was announced that Rees would undergo further reconstruction on his shoulder that would rule him out for the rest of that season.

The latest news will come as a big blow for Wasps' new director of rugby Dai Young who is well aware his new-look squad will feel Rees' absence. "The injury is a huge blow for Tom and everyone at Wasps," Young said. "We all saw how incredibly hard Tom worked to get back to full fitness from last season's injury so this is desperately disappointing.

"As director of rugby, Tom was someone I had earmarked to have a major impact this season both on and off the pitch and he will be sorely missed. We all wish him the best in his recovery."

And Wasps face the prospect of going into the new season without several of their key players. The Adams Park side will also be missing locks Dan Ward-Smith and Ross Filipo, flanker Joe Worsley and centre Dominic Waldouck.

Ward-Smith is seeking medical advice for an ongoing back problem while Worsley is doing likewise for a neck complaint. Filipo is on his way back from a damaged knee cartilage and Waldouck is on course to return from an Achilles tear in October.