"It will be a long time" – Phil Dowson: Northampton Saints injury woes continue as England stars miss Sale Sharks clash

10/16/2024 11:51 AM

By Ben Grundy

Both Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks will not feel at full strength coming into this weekend’s clash, with Alex Mitchell amongst several players out injured for the Saints. Meanwhile, England fly half George Ford will also miss the game due to his unresolved quadricep injury. 

"Mitch [Alex Mitchell] had an injection, and we are waiting to see how effective that has been.” Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson said. “So, as frustrating as that is, there is no definitive timeline [on his return from injury]. We are sort of sat on our hands a little bit waiting to see how he is, he is improving but he's improving very slowly. So, it is how we can accelerate that process without risking anything from a long-term point of view."

"Sam (Graham) is okay but obviously a serious injury. We are still coming to terms with the timeline, but it will be a long time. We are making sure we put our arm around him and look after him." 

Despite sustaining a recent head knock, England fullback George Furbank is expected to be available, however: "He is going through the return to play protocol; he was really frustrated to not come back on [against Leicester]. We are excited about getting him back in when he gets through the process." 

Providing a further update to his England internationals, Dowson added;

"Alex Coles had a rib issue and we are trying to push him for this weekend, depending on his threshold throughout training but Fraser Dingwall won't be available this weekend, he is still nursing a knee [injury] aggravated at England [training camp] this week."

Northampton's shot at redemption from a 'disappointing' evening in Leicestershire will come under the Friday night lights at Cinch Stadium, kick-off at 7.45 pm.

Northampton Saints hooker Curtis Langdon is not unfamiliar with Friday's visitors to Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens, having spent six years at Sale Sharks and also scoring in the Premiership Cup Final for the Sharks in 2020.

Robbie Smith believes Langdon has provided the squad with an insight into how the away team will set up to play: "He knows what they click on which is obviously that physicality, so he spoke a bit around scrums, spoke a bit around what we need to do as a team. It's not the most exciting brand of rugby but it works if you get it right against them, so I think mentality-wise is the biggest thing for us this week."

Northampton Saints welcome the northern outfit, who are fresh off a big win against rivals Newcastle Falcons, this Friday October 18th.  The Saints come into the game in contrasting form after suffering a 24-8 loss in the East Midlands derby to Leicester Tigers. 

Reflecting on the evening at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, Phil Dowson said: "[It was] Clearly not the result we wanted but there were lots of elements in the game that we were pleased with. 

"We created enough opportunities to score, we got held up three times, so I think we created enough to create some pressure on them, but we couldn't convert any of that. Frustrating and disappointed but by no means are we downhearted."

Robbie Smith reflected on the East Midlands derby: "It was gutting not to get over the line, but we analysed it on Monday and there was a lot of good in there. 

"I think if you look across the other leagues, the physicality [of games] has really ramped up. Teams will be looking to slow us down and with our attacking style of rugby, we just need to find a way to make sure we still attack the way we want." 

The two sides closely fought it out in Salford and the East Midlands last season with both results favouring the side in front of their respective home crowds.  

Despite senior England figures missing from the game, it does however present the chance for breakthrough wingers on both sides to shine in front of Steve Borthwick such as players like Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme, Tom Roebuck and Aaron Reed. 

Saints' Director of Rugby said: "I really like [Aaron] Reed, Tom Roebuck has obviously scored a lot of tries and has been good in the air with their kicking game through Gus Warr so there is obviously a lot of talent there. 

"The way we want to play we want to make sure we find space. Tommy Freeman has been playing well and Sleights [Ollie Sleightholme] with Hendy and Ramm also available it makes it a difficult selection."

Saints' winger James Ramm is very keen to take on Sale's back three: "[I'm] very keen. They have got a class back three and they use their aerial skills a lot but every match-up every week there are class players so it's no different but is still always exciting."

Alex Sanderson, Sale's Director of Rugby, highlighted his side's lack of impact in the latter stages of the Newcastle game, which rather contrasts Northampton's trend of starting slow and turning up late in the game.

Dowson said: "We will always want to keep the game fast. Regardless of what happened last week, I imagine Alex Sanderson is aware of that and is working to rectify that in training and all we can worry about is what we are doing." 

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