Concern: Alex Corbisiero
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London Irish boss Brian Smith revealed serious concern for England prop Alex Corbisiero after his side's 18-12 win over Gloucester.
Corbisiero pulled out in the captain's run before the trip to Kingsholm, with Smith describing his knee problem as a "degenerative condition" that could rule him out of Irish's upcoming fixtures and the Six Nations.
"It is very frustrating for us, it is very frustrating for 'Corbs'. It is a tough time for him, and it is a difficult one to balance," said Smith.
"His knee is a mess. He has played one-and-a-half games for us this season, and it is very disappointing.
"Sitting here right now, I couldn't tell you if he is going to play next week or not. He has got degenerative knee issues. He trained twice this week. We are bringing him back, and then at the captain's run he pulled out prior to it, and we had to make a change.
"There is not much of a decision to make when a bloke's knee has blown up and he feels he can't play. You can't put a gun to his head and tell him to get on the paddock.
"He is an honest person, he is a good bloke. He desperately wants to play for us, but it is a very frustrating situation."
Irish's stunning victory was their first away win of the season, with lock George Skivington grabbing a brace to move the Exiles five points clear of bottom club Sale.
"We picked a big pack so we could go toe-to-toe with them. The game could have gone either way, that is fair to say, but we came out on top," added Smith.
"The team showed a lot of character and toughed it out. I thought the whole pack was immense today. It was won up front."
Gloucester boss Nigel Davies was left frustrated by his team's outing as they lost at home for the first time since the opening game of the season against Northampton.
"We are hugely disappointed," said Davies.
"The important thing is that when you lose games, it's how you deal with it, manage it and come back. Today showed we are not good enough to slip off the hard work, intensity and accuracy.
"When we do that, like we we did today, then we were second best. We had little control over the game. Our set-piece didn't function, which put a bit of pressure on us, and there were far too many errors in our game."
Comments
ArmchairGeneral says...
He really improved this Autumn. Almost stopped Reads try too which would have been amazing. I think Smith may be playing it a bit by going public. If Saints are after him as was rumoured then Mallindar would look like a complete hypocrite after rejecting that Ozzie on health/injury grounds. Good chance for Marler. Thought Vinipola was unable to step up in the Autumn and has not looked quite so good since. Would like to see Mullan back in the mix.
Posted 07:40 07th January 2013
TVaddict says...
@JamieTheProp
He's not going to france! Where did you hear that?
@kybone
He's only played one and a half games for us, how is that overplaying him?
Hopefully he'll be up and running soon as he makes a huge difference to England's performance. He's the difference between our scrum be competitive and our scrum being a weapon.
In terms of replacements we've got Vunipola and Marler. Vunipola held his own well in the Autumn and Marler deserves another chance. We're blessed with three talented young loosehead props at the moment so we should be patient and let them develop.
Posted 21:22 06th January 2013
JamieTheProp says...
Could this be putting doubt in the minds of any French club who want to sign him?
If not then I think he needs to stop playing immediately, get the best advice possible and get it sorted. It won't cost Irish anything - Corbs will be insured against injury. What it will cost them is a very, very good prop.
To be honest I am biased because I am not a LI fan so I want him to be sorted and ready to play for England in the long term. For me I'm happy for him to miss the 6 Nations and the Lions as long as he is back ready, fit and raring to go for 2015.
That said if he goes and plays in France (which is likely) he won't be available for England anyway!
England need to start considering a replacement - because in the Autumn Marler proved he isn't ready yet!
Posted 14:54 06th January 2013
kybone says...
"degenerative condition"- So in other words he needs an operation to fix it, if it can be fixed. But they don't do that. Instead they go into every weekend with the intention of putting him out on the field, surely doing more and more damage. Surely someone should be looking out for his welfare. It appears to me that, because Irish know hes probably leaving at the end of the season, they aren't prepared to pay for the operation he needs especially as they know it will mean he definitely won't play again before the end of the season.
Posted 10:50 06th January 2013
NHsaints says...
That doesn't sound good, and he has such a promising career coming up, I reckon he should do a tait and have a year or two out just getting back to health and letting his knee heal up.
Posted 10:11 06th January 2013
melkdave says...
Not good news for L/Irish or England and the Lions ,best he gets it fixed asap if he can or if not he retires before he cripples himself.
Posted 00:00 06th January 2013