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Danny Cipriani suffered another major setback today when he was ruled out of rugby for six weeks after suffering a hairline fracture of his right leg.
A year ago, the London Wasps fly-half was rushed back into international action by England after recovering from an horrendous ankle break of the same leg but then performed so badly he was ignored for the Six Nations.
Cipriani's international hopes have suffered a new blow after it emerged the injury he suffered against Northampton on Sunday is worse than first thought.
England team manager Martin Johnson had left Cipriani in the Saxons squad for the autumn Tests and challenged the 21-year-old to prove he deserved to be promoted into the first team, who face Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
Although Cipriani must now focus on regaining his fitness for next year's Six Nations, the same cannot be said for Tom Rees, who will be out of action for four months after undergoing a second shoulder operation.
The Wasps skipper has not played this season and it will be remarkable if he gets back in time to challenge for a place in any of England's Six Nations matches.
Rees was originally injured at the end of last season forcing the 25-year-old to have an operation in July and now it appears procedures have to be repeated after his rehabilitation hit a major hurdle. To add to Wasps' problems, hooker Rob Webber is out for four weeks with ligament damage, also suffered against Northampton.
Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks today revealed it had been a tough call to put Rees through yet another operation.
Hanks said: "This decision has not been taken lightly either by Tom or the club, however the disappointment of the delay in a return to fitness is secondary to Tom's health, comfort and long-term career.
"All parties believe this is the best option for Tom and we look forward to seeing him back playing in due course.
"Danny and Rob join the injury list following the Northampton game last weekend which is frustrating for them both after they made strong starts to the season.
"There is always disappointment when any player is injured but we have a great medical team who work tirelessly to bring our players back to health."
Lawrence Dallaglio, now a member of the Wasps board, had to battle back from his own injury problems during his career and is adamant both Cipriani and Rees will get back to their best.
He said: "Tom is a consummate professional and I fully expect him to be playing before the end of the season while Danny was just unfortunate to get that knock against Northampton. I am sure he will be back in no time and our medical guys will do all that's necessary to make that happen."
Amid the triple setback for Wasps, there was some encouraging news from their medical team. Full-back Mark van Gisbergen will return to full training next week while try- scoring wing David Lemi could be back in three weeks following his broken wrist.
With Wasps playing Racing-Metro in the Challenge Cup at Adams Park on Sunday Hanks has even more reason to give his key players a break to protect them further.
