Leicester Tigers flanker Tom Croft fractured his shoulder in England's 21-11 defeat by South Africa and could miss the remainder of the Heineken Cup pool stage.
The 25-year-old British & Irish Lion was forced from the field after just 22 minutes at Twickenham on Saturday and spent the night in hospital but must wait to see a specialist later this week for full details on the timescale of the injury.
It is likely Croft will return towards the end of January, ruling him out of the double European champions' back-to-back fixtures against Perpignan in December and possibly rounds 5 and 6 in January.
A statement released by the England management stated that the "scans show an evidence of a fracture to his right scapula."
The pacey flanker scored a brace in his last Heineken Cup appearance against the Scarlets in round 2 of the competition.
More positive news for Leicester is that fly-half Toby Flood, who also left the field injured on the weekend suffered no serious injury and will return to the club this week.