Jonny May in injury scare ahead of England's autumn international as Leicester wing suffers shoulder blow

Wing was forced off after just eight minutes after suffering a painful blow to his right shoulder, though Leicester confirmed that he had not broken anything and will have further assessment in the coming days

Jonny May was forced off after eight minutes of Leicester's win over Northampton Saints (Getty)

Geordan Murphy does not know how bad Jonny May’s shoulder injury is after the England international was forced off the field eight minutes into Leicester Tigers’ victory over Northampton Saints, handing him a nervous wait ahead of the autumn internationals.

The 28-year-old was replaced after injuring his right shoulder when running into Teimana Harrison and Alex Waller, with his arm being put in a makeshift sling by medics as he was in obvious discomfort.

Interim director of rugby Murphy said that May was in good spirits in the Twickenham changing room after the 23-15 victory over East Midland rivals Northampton Saints, with a scan revealing that he had not broken anything despite the pain.

“He got a bang directly on the point of his shoulder, which is his A/C (joint) and I haven’t had a report from the physios just yet,” Murphy said. “It was a bit sore and he put his ice on it straight away and they said they would report.

“Sometimes you can just strap him up and play, sometimes they take a few weeks so I don’t have a complete report for you but it was a bang on the shoulder.

“It is not too severe but it was sore.

“He was smiling in the changing but I don’t know in all honesty. I need to go speak to the medicals as I have literally had two minutes in the changing room.”

May will need further assessment in the week to determine the extent of the injury, but England head coach Eddie Jones is due to name his squad for their four autumn internationals a week on Thursday, with the first match against South Africa four weeks away on 3 November.

Jones was present at Twickenham to see May go off, and he will have also grimaced at the sight of Northampton Saints lock Courtney Lawes dropping out of the match before kick-off, having suffered a back spasm in the morning.

"He woke up and had a back problem. We didn't think it would be significant, but when he came out to run he couldn't and put it down to the bed he was sleeping in,” said Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd.

"That was a problem for us. We stayed at a place down the road in Teddington. I think it is a problem when the bed is 5’11” and he's 6’11”. He took himself out, which created a problem for us.

"The squad has to be bigger than one person. I think he will wake up in two days and it will be gone. They can be grim for a short period of time then disappear as quick as they came along.

"He is pretty down on himself and feels he has left himself and the team down so is pretty grumpy at the moment.”

Jordan Olowofela scored Leicester second try in two minutes (Getty)

He defeat for Saints put a downer on a day that was in Rob Horne’s name, the former Australia centre who was forced to retire from the game in April this year when he suffered life-changing injuries while playing for Northampton against Leicester. More than 40,000 fans turned out for the derby, with donations going towards the 29-year-old as he adapts to living without any movement in his right arm, and Boyd was disappointed that his side couldn’t get the victory that would’ve capped the perfect day.

"It's disappointing that we couldn't get the victory that Rob deserved,” Boyd said.
"The loss is painful, the fact that it is a local derby is painful and the fact that we wanted to respect Rob and couldn't get across the line, is also painful. It is not a very happy changing room.”
"Rob is a good man and we would have liked to have got the outcome - but the important thing for him is that we can help him with his journey going forward.