Leeds Rhinos will be without England forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan for up to three months with a knee injury.

The second rower sustained the injury against Hull KR in the Rhinos’ opening Stobart Super League match and aggravated it during last Friday’s 26-12 Heinz Big Soup World Club Challenge win over Manly Sea Eagles.

Leeds had hoped keyhole surgery would sideline Jones-Buchanan for only a couple of weeks but the extent of the damage to the knee was worse than initially thought.

He has had cartilage in his knee repaired and the operation was deemed a success, although he is now facing a lay-off of between 10 and 12 weeks.

Rhinos coach Brian McDermott said: “We are disappointed for Jamie as we had hoped he would be back in action sooner than this.

“However, he will approach this with the same positive attitude he approaches all things in life and I am sure he will come back strong in three months to give us a lift at that stage of the season.”

Winger Lee Smith, Leeds’ only other first-team casualty, is continuing to recover from the rib injury he suffered at Wigan Warriors.