Leeds captain Kallum Watkins ruled out for rest of season

Leeds skipper Kallum Watkins has been ruled out for eight months after suffering an ACL injury at Magic Weekend.

The 27-year-old left the field in Saturday’s defeat to Castleford Tigers at St James’ Park and did not return.

And the Rhinos have today confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season after scans revealed that he has suffered an ACL injury.

Watkins will miss England’s mid-season Test against New Zealand in Denver and any other international action in 2018.

And he is gutted to be ruled out until 2019.

He said: “I’m deeply disappointed to be missing the rest of the season.

“However, I will be doing everything possible to make sure I return ready to kick on from this injury.

“I know I am in the best possible hands with our medical team at the Rhinos and in the meantime, I will be backing the boys from the sidelines and giving them every support for the rest of the campaign.”

The Rhinos have recalled Jimmy Keinhorst from his loan at Widnes Vikings, with the Germany international set to fill the centre void left by Watkins.