England suffer double injury blow in Sale's win at Northampton
England suffered a potentially devastating double injury blow as Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes limped off in Sale’s 34-14 Gallagher Premiership victory at Northampton.
Lawes departed in the ninth minute after falling awkwardly when challenging Tom Curry for a high ball, the Saints second row catching his right ankle in the turf as his body twisted on landing.
Soon after, England midfielder Tuilagi followed him off the pitch having taken a bang to what appeared to be his left achilles during a bulldozing carry out of defence when Sale were pinned in their own 22.
Both players were in obvious discomfort and had to be helped off before taking their places in the stands with strapping fastened on to the affected areas in alarming scenes at Franklin’s Gardens.
England head coach Eddie Jones is due on Monday to announce a preliminary squad for fixtures against the Barbarians and Italy that take place at the end of next month as the prelude to the Autumn Nations Cup.
? Manu Tuilagi – Achilles ?
? Courtney Lawes – Knee ?"I'm sure Eddie Jones won't be having the easiest of sleeps tonight."
? Concern for two England stars ahead of the Autumn Internationals and beyond… pic.twitter.com/oq7NpuJiR2
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 29, 2020
Tuilagi and Lawes would be fully involved throughout the campaign and their absence would be a major setback to Jones as England target the win in Rome on October 31 that might deliver the Six Nations title.
Steve Diamond admitted “it doesn’t look good” when questioned about the damage to Tuilagi’s left leg. “Somebody landed on it. We’ll be assessing it overnight. I don’t think it’s clever. I don’t think it’s the best,” Diamond said.
“Manu has settled in so well. We were having a bit of crack this week about how he’s never played so many games, maybe that was a jinx. Whatever it takes to get Manu back, we’ll do it, however long it takes. We’ll comfort him over the next month or two and chat about a long-term career with us. We’re delighted about what he’s done for us so far.”
The early outlook on Lawes is also bleak. “Courtney has an ankle injury and it looks pretty ginger. I wouldn’t be overly hopeful of a fast return – he sustained a fairly heavy blow,” Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd said. “He’ll get a scan. It’s unfortunate for Courtney and maybe in the short term unfortunate for England.”
Tuilagi’s injury was the only stain on an otherwise pleasing evening for Sale as they departed the Midlands with a bonus-point win. It keeps the Sharks in contention for a top-four finish with one round of the regular Premiership season left, while Northampton are left nursing a seventh consecutive home defeat as their freefall continues unchecked.
Saints’ post-lockdown misery was fully evident in the opening ten minutes when they leaked an early try to Luke James and then saw Lawes go down. Sale kept the ball alive beautifully in the build-up to James crossing in the left corner for a try made possible by Robert du Preez’s long pass that capitalised on the overlap.
Play continued at a brisk pace despite the interruptions for treatment to Lawes and Tuilagi and Sale claimed their second score when referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try after a driving maul was brought down illegally, with culprit Api Ratuniyarawa also given ten minutes in the sin-bin.
Despite being a man down, Saints responded when Ahsee Tuala came racing out of a midfield move that had outwitted Sale’s flat-footed defence and rampaged over the whitewash. Dan Biggar had been heavily involved in the deception but the Wales fly-half was at fault as Saints cracked once more, his misread of James’ grubber seeing the ball pass between his legs to allow the Sharks full-back to gather and score.
Sale clinched the bonus point on the cusp of half-time when they went flooding through holes that were appearing with increasing regularity before James sent Simon Hammersley over. The third quarter was more attritional and it was Saints who came out on top when scrum-half Alex Mitchell finished waves of attacks to touch down, with Biggar converting.
The lead had been reduced to eight points but Sale crushed any hope of a fightback when Rohan Janse van Rensburg, making his first appearance on the wing, rounded off a period of sustained pressure. And the final blow was landed when replacement prop Valery Morozov used his power to twist his way over from close range, Saints crumbling before their opponents’ forward power.
Rampant! ?@SaleSharksRugby are flying, a bonus-point score before half-time! ?
Tom Curry quick to scoop up the loose ball and Simon Hammersley finishes off a sweeping move. pic.twitter.com/GdbvuEs94p
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 29, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments