Saturday 10 January 2015 22:12, UK
England No 8 Ben Morgan could be a doubt for the Six Nations after he was stretchered off during Gloucester’s thrilling 24-23 victory over Saracens at Kingsholm on Friday night.
The Gloucester forward suffered an injury to his left leg early in the second half when he was tackled just short of the Saracens line.
Referee JP Doyle stopped the match immediately and Morgan received a lengthy spell of treatment before he was carried off.
Morgan was one of England’s most consistent performers during the autumn Tests earlier in the season and head coach Stuart Lancaster will not want to be without his services for the 6 Nations.
The back row forward will be assessed by Gloucester medics and then see a specialist on Monday but Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys was not upbeat when asked about the injury after the match.
"It is always hard at the end of a game to give a diagnosis of an injury but it did not look very good,” said Humphreys.
"At this stage we don't know and we won't know much more until he has been checked tomorrow (Saturday) and then sees a specialist at a full medical review on Monday."
At this stage we don't know and we won't know much more until he has been checked tomorrow (Saturday) and then sees a specialist at a full medical review on Monday.
England are scheduled to begin their 6 Nations campaign in the tournament curtain-raiser against Wales in Cardiff on 6 February.
The bad news may not end with the Morgan injury for Lancaster because Saracens’ lock George Kruis may find himself attracting the scrutiny of the citing commissioner after he escaped with a yellow card for a tip-tackle on Gloucester wing David Halaifonua.
Gloucester won an enthralling match when James Hook kicked a 50-metre penalty deep into stoppage time.
Humphreys said: “I went from one emotion to another at the end. I thought we had lost it and lost the bonus point and then we won it.
"But I think we were due a bit of luck and the one thing that people cannot question is that this team has character.
"The fact that Hooky put over that kick does not just show the character of him but of the team. We are fortunate to have top quality kickers at the club and so I had every confidence he would knock it over."
Saracens had a late Chris Ashton try disallowed and director of rugby Mark McCall reflected: “Chris is clearly in front of Neil de Kock but the issue we have is they knocked the ball on prior to that.
“A good referee will decide that Chris Ashton is in front of the kicker and we will go back for the scrum. There were 45 seconds left on the clock and the game was over.”
England fly-half Owen Farrell did not play in the match but McCall said: “It is a very minor strain and we are very confident he will be fit for Munster next week.”
