Dowson delivers latest Saints injury update ahead of clash with Sale Sharks


The 25-year-old missed last Saturday’s East Midlands derby at Leicester Tigers due to a knee injury aggravated during last week’s three-day England training camp, which took place from Monday to Wednesday.
Tom Litchfield came in for his first appearance of the season, partnering Rory Hutchinson at centre.
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Hide AdAnd at Tuesday’s media session ahead of the clash with the Sharks, Saints boss Phil Dowson said: “Fraser Dingwall won’t be available this weekend.
"He’s still nursing a knee (injury) that he’d been carrying for a couple of weeks and was aggravated at England training last week.
"We’re trying to make sure he gets the best opportunity to be back soon.
"We thought the best thing was to nip it in the bud rather than drag it on for the rest of the season.”
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Hide AdAnother player who will miss the match against Sale is Alex Mitchell, with the scrum-half progressing slowly with a neck problem.
"He had an injection and we’re waiting to see how effective that’s been,” Dowson said.
"As frustrating as that’s been – and there’s been lots of questions around it – there isn’t a definitive timeline because we’re reticent to do anything more invasive so the conservative approach is the best approach.
"We’re sort of sat on our hands a bit, waiting to see if he’s improving, and he is improving, but we can’t accelerate that process without risking anything long term.
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Hide Ad"We want to make sure he’s not stressed about it, which he doesn’t seem to be. He’s a bit frustrated but we want to make sure we do the right thing by him personally.”
Saints had a host of other injury issues to deal with last week, with the absentee list ahead of the defeat at Tigers a lengthy one.
Alex Coles was added to it after suffering a rib injury in the win against Harlequins on the previous Friday, but he could have a chance of featuring against Sale.
Dowson explained: "Alex Coles had a rib issue and he’s not a million miles away so we’re trying to push him for this weekend, but it really depends on his threshold for getting through training.”
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Hide AdSaints lost Sam Graham to a serious knee injury in the early stages of the game at Tigers.
And Dowson said: “He’s clearly gutted and we feel for him because it’s a shocking injury and it’s going to require a decent lay-off, but knowing his work rate, his character, drive and ambition, there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll come back bigger, better and stronger and we’ve got to give him as much support as possible as a club to get him through that.”
Henry Pollock came on for Graham at Tigers, with the England Under-20s star showing his quality.
"Henry had a great impact and that’s two weeks in a row he’s had a great impact,” Dowson said.
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Hide Ad"He’s fast, he thinks fast, he’s got plenty of confidence and he’s good to watch.”
Saints have recently been without No.8 Juarno Augustus due to injury.
“He’s good, he’s back in some elements of our training, but not everything so we’re slowly trying to build up his contact level,” Dowson said.
George Furbank was forced off early in the second half at Leicester due to concussion.
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Hide Ad“George is okay,” Dowson said. “He’s going through that return-to-play protocol and he was frustrated he couldn’t come back on the pitch because he said he felt pretty good.
"But those measures are there for safety so he’s going through that protocol and hopefully he should be all good.”
One piece of good news is that George Hendy has overcome a foot problem.
Dowson said: “Hendo warmed up before the game last weekend so he’s back in the mixer, but he’s walking into a very competitive back three group and they are very good selection headaches for the coaches.”
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Hide AdSaints have been battling injuries in the second row, with Callum Hunter-Hill having had a back injury, while Coles, Tom Lockett (pectoral) and Emeka Atuanya have also been absent.
That opened the door for short-term signing Gavin Thornbury to make his debut off the bench in the final 10 minutes at Mattioli Woods Welford Road last weekend.
And when asked about the experienced Irish lock, Dowson said: “He’s been excellent.
"I watched some of the video of him playing at Connacht and for Ireland A, and he’s an outstanding player who has just been very unfortunate with injuries.
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Hide Ad"He picked up an injury unfortunately in the first week that he was here but he’s training very hard, he understands the game, he’s a great man in the environment – all those positive elements of it.
"It was great to see him out playing at this level, getting stuck into Leicester in the last 10 minutes.
"He would have wanted more time – and I’m sure he’ll get more time in the next couple of weeks.”
Saints will be hoping that Tom James can return to action following concussion, but 19-year-old scrum-half Archie McParland more than held his own at Tigers last Saturday as he made his second Premiership start.
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Hide Ad"I thought he was excellent on the whole and I thought he really grew into the game,” Dowson said.
"I thought his kicking was accurate, his passing was good, he really looked for the spaces around the fringes and the more he plays and the more opportunities like that he gets, the better he’ll be.”
Burger Odendaal is another man who is on the injury list, though the South African centre is a long-term absentee with the knee injury he picked up in the Premiership final win against Bath back in June.
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