Northampton Saints sweat over England trio as injury concerns worsen
Fin Smith (left) was one of three injury concerns for Northampton following their win over Saracens yesterday.
Northampton Saints paid a heavy price for their 21-17 win over Saracens yesterday (Saturday, 28th March), with Fin Smith, Emmanuel Iyogun, and Trevor Davison all picking up knocks.
The trio, who were all a part of Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations squad earlier this year, were all forced off the field in the win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Smith and Iyogun leaving in the first-half while Davison also came off early in the second-half.
The victory at Spurs keeps Northampton top of the PREM table at the end of round 12, with the focus switching onto the Investec Champions Cup this week, sitting six points above second-placed Bath.
However, the West Country side have yet to play at the time of writing.
Northampton Saints sweat over England trio Smith, Iyogun and Davison
The immediate focus was on the injury to Davison, with the replacement coming off just 12 minutes into his shift in North London, and he could now be looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines as a result.
“Trevor looked pretty bad with an ankle or knee,” said Dowson. “We’ll scan it and see how he is, but he’d be a huge loss because of the impact he has on our squad.”
Fly-half Smith was also taken off after picking up a head knock, and later failed his HIA.
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“It was disappointing to lose Fin, but he’s okay,” the boss said of the 13-cap England ace.
Elsewhere, Iyogun was taken off after suffering a back spasm.
These will all come as unwelcome news to the Saints, who are also without Alex Mitchell, Alex Coles, George Hendy and Eduardo Todero through injury, and will leave him in a tricky spot heading into next weekend’s Investec Champions Cup clash with Castres.
Smith’s withdrawal led to a reshuffle in the Saints backline, with George Furbank shifting into fly-half and James Ramm to full-back, which could be an option for them next weekend too, while Anthony Belleau could also come straight back into the starting XV at fly-half.
Should Iyogun miss out next weekend, Danilo Fischetti will likely come into the starting line-up, while Tom West could don the 17 shirt off the bench. Davison’s injury might also allow for
Luke Green to continue in the starting side and Cleopas Kundiona to come back onto the bench.