Tom Curry faces a race against time to make England’s Six Nations opener after pulling a hamstring at Harlequins.
The Sale star limped off after just 16 minutes at a rain-sodden Twickenham Stoop to add to new England boss Steve Borthwick’s worries.
Borthwick is already sweating on whether captain Owen Farrell will be cited for his tackle at Gloucester on Friday which pundits Austin Healey and Lawrence Dallaglio branded a “definite red card’.
With just 26 days until Scotland come to Twickenham to defend the Calcutta Cup, he is also in danger of losing one of the nation’s best back rows.
Sharks boss Alex Sanderson said: “Even if hamstrings are the lowest grade, grade one, they are generally two to three weeks.
“I’ve just had a conversation with him and told him to ‘get your head on for the Six Nations but don’t stop being a leader for us’.
“He will get a scan. He was walking around but it has stiffened up, fingers crossed he will be okay.”
Borthwick names his Six Nations squad next Monday and will likely be without Luke Cowan-Dickie, crocked at Exeter on Saturday. He finds out today whether Farrell faces a charge.
It could get worse for England’s new head coach as Manu Tuilagi made shoulder to head contact with Tommy Allan, which put Quins’ fly-half out of the game.
Ref Wayne Barnes decided Sale’s wrecking ball centre had no case to answer but disciplinary chiefs could arrive at a different conclusion.
The collision came just before Alex Sanderson's side clinched the bonus point through Cobus Wiese to cap a superb display, a week after trouncing champions Leicester, and open a 12-point gap over the Londoners in second place.
Tom O’Flaherty, Rob du Preez and Akker van der Merwe each claimed tries inside the hour mark to leave Quins attack coach Nick Evans frustrated in his first game since being signed up by England.
The former All Black told of his excitement at the opportunity and said he intended to bring “energy and belief” to a team which lost six times in 2022.
The good news is he will have Marcus Smith to work with after Quins confirmed the fly-half will return from injury in Paris next weekend.
But Evans warned: “There’s not a lot of time so systems and structures are not going to change massively.”
QUINS - Tries: Marchant, David. Pens: Allan 2.
SALE - Tries: O’Flaherty, R du Preez, Van der Merwe, Wiese. Cons: R du Preez 2.
