England star Ed Slater suffered a Six Nations injury scare while playing for Leicester in their 26-6 defeat at Saracens in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.
Slater limped off inside the opening half-hour of the clash at Allianz Park and his right leg was later encased in a knee brace.
Only two weeks ago, Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill said that Slater, a lock who can also play in the back row, was capable of captaining England.
However, with recently appointed England forwards coach Steve Borthwick watching from the stands, the Leicester captain sustained a blow that leaves him facing a race against time to prove his fitness before England’s Six Nations opener in Scotland on Feb. 6.
“Slater has tweaked his medial ligaments. We will do the medical checks over the next few days,” Cockerill said.
Slater’s injury capped a dismal day for Leicester, who were blown away by dominant displays from Saracens locks George Kruis and Maro Itoje.
Thanks to that duo, Saracens, unbeaten in 15 matches in all competitions, extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to six points.
James Hook kicked 17 points as Gloucester fought back to beat London Irish 27-14 at Kingsholm.
Irish led 14-6 at half-time through converted tries from Alex Lewington and Ciaran Hearn as they sought to make it back-to-back Premiership wins for the first time in nine months.
Gloucester were struggling at that stage, but Hook’s fine kicking, slotting over five penalties and a conversion, coupled with second-half tries from Matt Kvesic and replacement Billy Burns ensured the visitors went home with nothing.
Newcastle’s Craig Willis kicked two late penalties as his side secured their first Premiership success of the season with a 19-14 win against Bath.
The Falcons led for much of the match, were pegged back and then stole the points through the boot of Willis.
In the day’s late match, Danny Cipriani’s foot was the decisive factor as Sale beat Wasps 15-9.
After Cipriani’s early penalty, Wasps led 6-3 at the break when stand-off Jimmy Gopperth’s penalty was followed by center Elliott Daly’s drop-goal.
However, Cipriani leveled it again with the first of three second-half penalties.
Gopperth kicked a second penalty, but Cipriani’s drop-goal secured a third Premiership win of the season to lift them above Bath into seventh.
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