Courtney Lawes gives England injury concern - Ruck

Courtney Lawes gives England injury concern

  • Northampton Saints made it four wins from their last five Premiership games as they beat league leaders Saracens
  • Saints lost England lock Courtney Lawes to a suspected ankle injury
  • There was opportunity for players on both sides to make an impression in front of England coach Eddie Jones
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder revealed that forward Courtney Lawes will need further assessment after limping off on Saturday.

Lawes was helped off in the first half after getting his leg stuck in a ruck and damaging his ankle.

The 27-year-old is now a doubt for England’s meeting with Wales next weekend at Twickenham.

“Courtney is sore. He’s twisted his ankle, but we don’t know the extent of the damage just yet,” Mallinder revealed.

“It’s too early for me to say how he will be but he’s a tough lad. I don’t think he will want down time! He always wants to play and be given more minutes.”



Mallinder meanwhile was thrilled to see his side topple Saracens on their own turf ahead of their Champions Cup quarter-final later this season.

“Any win down at Saracens is good,” added Mallinder.

“Even with their international players away it’s a good win but I think it could be a different game come the Champions Cup.

“I think our performance, particularly in the first half, was very good. And we came out in the second half and Dickson scored. We’re slightly disappointed we couldn’t finish off the [Ben] Foden opportunity but we are generally happy.”

Saracens boss Mark McCall on the other was happy with his side’s effort levels, even if the result didn’t go their way.

“We got away with a bonus point, and we move on to the next game. We’ve asked a lot from this group in the last few weeks, the physicality and the intent was there, which is pleasing, but we were undone by the small things,” he said.

“In terms of the big stuff that you require week in week out, we were good. We just got the small stuff wrong, the details – knocking on three balls in good positions.

“This is a tremendously challenging period for us and it’s been tough. Despite the fact we lost, I think we are going to be okay. We are all in the race to get into a top four spot and hopefully we have enough, especially with the cavalry coming back, to stay there.”