George Martin: Leicester Tigers’ England lock expected to miss remainder of season

Injuries have meant that Martin has played almost as often for England this season than he has for Tigers.

The combative forward featured in five of their opening 11 Premiership games before the Six Nations, and also in two European Champions Cup group games in that time.

Martin’s form for club and country in recent years, including a start for England in their World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa in 2023, having largely been used from the bench during the competition, has linked him with a potential first British and Irish Lions call-up, external for the coming summer.

While Cheika was open about Martin’s unlikely involvement with Tigers for what remains of the season, the Australian would not be drawn on how it might impact his Lions’ hopes.

“I don’t know about that bit,” Cheika added. “I’d rather just talk about Leicester and [you] make your own conclusions off the back of that. The important thing is for him to recover at this stage.”

While third-placed Tigers may not have Martin for what remains of the campaign, fellow England international Ollie Chessum is edging closer to making his first appearance since the Six Nations.

“Ollie has been involved these last few weeks, and we started getting him involved a bit more today,” Cheika said.

“I think off the back of what we see tomorrow we’ll get a good picture of whether he’ll be available this week. The same with Julian Montoya. Tommy Reffell is the most active of all of them.”

Tigers are next in action on Sunday away to second-placed Bristol Bears.