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.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS