Sheridan blow for Toulon

Toulon's former England prop Andrew Sheridan has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing an operation on his neck.

The 34-year-old – capped 40 times and twice by the British and Irish Lions – will be back for another campaign with the team next season and honour the last year remaining on his contract.

Sheridan, who joined Toulon from Saracens in 2012 and was a pivotal member of the side that won last season's European Cup, had said that he had been considering bringing the curtain down on his career at the end of this season.

Sheridan, who Toulon have replaced with Biarritz's Alexandre Menini, has suffered from persistent pain in his neck which has caused numbness in an arm, and forced him to stop playing last November and December before returning to action in the middle of January.

However, the pain returned at the beginning of February and the prop was forced to undergo an operation to relieve the pain in Marseille on Thursday.

AFP