England hopeful among four fresh injury blows as PREM boss cites ‘worst case’ scenario
Ollie Thorley (left) is among four fresh injuries for George Skivington (right) to deal with
Gloucester paid a heavy price for their 49-34 defeat to West Country rivals Bristol Bears, with four fresh injury blows to add to their rapidly growing list of concerns in the early stages of the season.
England winger Ollie Thorley was taken off just five minutes into the defeat at Kingsholm, while off-season recruits James Venter and Ben Loader also picked up hamstring issues and Josiah Edwards-Giraud suffered what appeared to be an ankle blow in the waning moments of the game.
These will come as a bitter blow to director of rugby George Skivington, who is already without as many as 20 first-team players just four rounds into the new season.
‘Worst case’
Last week, Gloucester’s head of medical, Rhys Hughes, provided an in-depth update on 10 long-term injuries and unavailabilities, including the likes of England internationals Jack Singleton and Lewis Ludlow as well as Wales ace Josh Hathaway, while a further six players were also listed as short-term injuries. Of that group, Wales international Max Llewellyn has since returned to the pitch.
But, in the time since then, Gloucester have lost recently capped Seb Atkinson to a knee injury, with the Daily Mail reporting he is set to miss England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign, and last night saw a further four names added to that list.
“I haven’t got an explanation for it,” Skivington said after the game.
“What’s your worst case? And it has happened.
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“Ollie looked pretty bad; it looked like he knocked himself out. Ben Loader hurt his hamstring, but I don’t know how badly and James Venter hurt his hamstring as well. Josiah got carried off at the end, I think that was an ankle. I just saw him in there (the changing room) and he’s got his ankle wrapped up.
“We are up to 19-20 players (out) now. I honestly haven’t got an answer. We are in dire straits for numbers now.
“We will look at how we manage ourselves through this spell. Management-wise and emotionally, it’s a headache because this isn’t where we wanted to be, four games in.”
As a result of their defeat to the Bears, who themselves picked up more knocks, the Cherry and Whites find themselves ninth in the PREM table after four rounds and are still to claim their first win of the new season.