Aviva Premiership
Leicester hit by new injury blow
ESPN Staff
August 15, 2012
England lock Louis Deacon, England v France, Six Nations, Twickenham, England, February 26, 2011
Louis Deacon will miss the start of the season © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Richard Cockerill | Louis Deacon
Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Leicester Tigers boss Richard Cockerill has confirmed that second-row Louis Deacon will miss the start of the season with an injured shoulder.

The England lock has undergone surgery and faces a further spell on the sidelines after missing half of last season with a hamstring injury. And the Tigers also look set to be without new winger Miles Benjamin who has had surgery on a niggling toe injury.

"Louis' hamstring is fine but he has had a problem with his shoulder, which he has had surgery on," Cockerill told Leicester Mercury. "He will not be fit for the start of the season. It won't be too long after we get under way, but he will miss the start.

"We made the choice to have the surgery now and it is a little bit disappointing after he had that trouble with his hamstring. He started training with a shoulder problem which we thought would settle down, but it didn't so we have had to tidy that up.

"I would rather have him missing for the first few weeks of the season and then available for the rest of it, because he is going to be very important for us."

Deacon will now join the likes of Tom Croft, Craig Newby and Ben Youngs on a lengthy injury list at the Tigers. But one man who Cockerill hopes to call upon for their season opener against London Welsh is Boris Stankovich who had surgery on his shoulder over the summer. Cockerill claims he is "making good progress" and that he also hopes to have prop Logovi'i Mulipola in the country by the "end of this week".

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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