Jason Robinson, the leading try-scorer in this year's Six Nations, is doubtful for Sale's Premiership match at Saracens on Sunday but he is likely to be named in a 28-man training squad to prepare for England's March 11 international against France at Twickenham, which will be announced this morning.
Robinson suffered a trapped nerve in his neck last week while training with England and it forced him to miss last Saturday's defeat against Ireland. Robinson, who scored three tries from his wing in the opening two rounds of the championship after his return to international rugby following an 18-month retirement, has been unable to train with Sale this week because of the injury.
The 32-year-old saw a specialist after the problem failed to respond to treatment and was told that he would not need corrective surgery. "With the correct rest and rehabilitation, Jason should be back very soon," said the Sale doctor, Dave Jones.
Whether that will be soon enough for the England head coach, Brian Ashton, as he picks over the debris of the Dublin debacle is unlikely to be known until the England squad gathers next week. Sale said that Robinson would be monitored daily and that he had not been ruled out of the trip to Saracens.
By naming six extra players to prepare for France Ashton is not so much putting pressure on club directors of rugby to rest players, as he did before the Ireland match when he named his starting line-up a week earlier than normal, but indicating the areas where he is considering making changes after England's heaviest ever defeat in the championship. He has a number of forwards coming back from injury, including the Bath pair Matt Stevens and Steve Borthwick, and a round of Premiership matches is far from the distraction it was two weeks ago.
Sale's England flanker Magnus Lund will not be going to Vicarage Road after suffering a head injury in Dublin. "He will not play again until he has taken, and passed, the necessary tests," said Jones. "We hope that he will be fit next week."
Sale yesterday signed the France full-back Julien Laharrague from Perpignan for the rest of the season, with an option to extend the deal in the summer. The 28-year-old, who has 11 caps, will be appearing for his seventh club after stints with Tarbes, Agen, Dax, Béziers and Brive.
Sale's Welsh international centre Mark Taylor is set to move to the Ospreys in the summer while the Welsh region's New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall, who joined last June after a season with Leeds, has been linked with a move to Stade Français.
The Ospreys' and Wales centre Gavin Henson will tomorrow have a second scan on his left knee to determine whether he needs an operation which would rule him out of action until the end of the month. "The consultant needs to take another look," said the region's director of rugby, Kevin Hopkins. "If the knee is not right, we need to get it sorted out."
The England centre Ben Johnston is leaving Saracens at the end of the season after eight years with the club to join Northampton. The 28-year-old appeared in Saracens' first 10 matches of the campaign but has been out of action since the November after groin surgery. Bristol yesterday signed the Gloucester scrum-half Haydn Thomas for next season.
The New Zealand Rugby Union announced a loss of more than £1.5m in the last financial year, a deficit it blamed on the success of the New Zealand dollar against the United States dollar and the British pound in 2006 with two-thirds of its revenue generated in foreign currency.
