EXCLUSIVE - England lose second young star to ACL injury

England have had their preparations for their tour of South Africa take another hit, as budding centre Cameron Redpath has been sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The 18-year-old had a successful ACL reconstruction earlier today but will now spend most, if not all, of the 2018/19 season recovering and rehabilitating.

The news comes just days after Jack Willis’ summer was ended prematurely, with the Wasps flanker suffering a similar injury last weekend in the Aviva Premiership semi-finals.

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It remains to be seen whether or not Eddie Jones will call up a replacement for Redpath, with the young centre’s role on the tour of South Africa open to interpretation. If his inclusion had been as an apprentice, it’s unlikely Jones will move to replace him in the squad.

Frustratingly for Redpath, this injury will derail his first season in the Sale Sharks senior academy, a season which many had been tipping him to break into Sale’s first team squad and start to feature in the Premiership.

RugbyPass understands that the injury did not occur during Redpath’s time with England and was sustained earlier in the season when Redpath was still training with Sale. He believed it to be a minor knock, but it was later diagnosed as an ACL injury and culminated in Redpath having successful surgery on the injury earlier today.

Providing there are no setbacks in his recovery, Redpath could feature in the second half of the 2018/19 season, although the priority for player and club will be just to ensure he returns to full fitness and doesn’t rush his rehabilitation.