Delon Armitage's participation in England's autumn internationals appears in doubt after he suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Exiles full-back suffers suspected dislocated shoulder
Delon Armitage's participation in England's autumn internationals appears in doubt after he suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder in London Irish's match against Gloucester on Sunday.
The Exiles full-back was helped from the pitch in the 61st minute of the Guinness Premiership encounter at the Madejski Stadium, which his side eventually won 40-10.
With an update on Armitage's condition expected on Monday, head coach Toby Booth was reluctant to speculate for how long he might be out for.
"Delon has a suspected dislocated shoulder and he's gone to hospital. We'll know more tomorrow," Booth said.
"Delon is a tough cookie so he will front it out. I have no idea how long he'll be out.
"Losing Delon for any amount of time would be massive, he's an international full-back and we want him on the pitch.
"Touch wood it's not too serious and we'll get him back soon."
Dislocated shoulders typically take six to 12 weeks to heal, meaning that Armitage could miss England's autumn fixtures against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
Martin Johnson already has to contend with the absence of Leicester's Toby Flood, who has had surgery on an Achilles problem while Riki Flutey is also a doubt for the Twickenham matches.
Brawl
The home side otherwise enjoyed an excellent day, although their bonus-point win was soured by a late brawl which resulted in both Gloucester captain Gareth Delve and Irish's George Stowers being sent to the sin bin.
"I only caught the end of it. Gloucester look like they came out for the second half with a few different intentions," Booth added.
"Things boiled over from frustration and tempers were high. I will be looking at the video very carefully.
"Stowers has been cut and has a big bruise around his eye. He seemed to take a lot of punches. I'm surprised he was carded.
"Gareth took the law into his own hands and there may be repercussions, but we'll have to look at the video again."
However, in a match that yielded a total of six yellow cards - four to his side alone - Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath refused to criticise his skipper.
"I've spoke to Gareth. One of our guys was hit off the ball and Gareth had a bit of anger and frustration in him, so he squared up," he said.
"It's one of those things that happens in a contact sport. I haven't made an issue of it.
"It doesn't concern me if my captain is doing that - he's a good, honest man and I have no issues with him."
Even so, Redpath lamented their overall lack of discipline, adding: "We were down to 14 men for the majority of the second half and you're not going to compete like that."
