Western Daily Press

May set to replace injured Louis

- JOHN EVELY jonathan.evely@reachplc.com

GEORGE Skivington looks set to switch one internatio­nal wing for another this weekend as England’s Jonny May returns to club duty to likely replace injured Welshman Louis Rees-Zammit as Gloucester host Northampto­n Saints in the Gallagher Premiershi­p.

With Wales’ 34-39 defeat to Australia on Saturday falling outside of the internatio­nal window, Rees-Zammit was in club action last weekend as Gloucester were beaten 21-12 by Harlequins. But his game was ended early as he was carried from The Stoop pitch by medics following a heavy airborne collision which left him in a heap.

He was attended to on the pitch for 10 minutes having his hip treated, before being carried back to the changing rooms for further attention.

Providing an update on his world-class wing, Cherry and Whites head coach Skivington said: “He had a bang to his hip and I think sometimes those things shut down fast, especially when you are a fast-twitch muscle fibre player like Zam.

“I think it can feel pretty catastroph­ic at the time and then you get a few days later and it is not as bad, thankfully, as it could have been.”

Skivington confirmed ReesZammit’s injury is a collision one, rather than anything structural, but said: “We are taking his time with him and will make sure it is right but it is not as bad as we first thought.”

Having tried to battle through the pain, Rees-Zammit finally admitted defeat on Friday night after the ball was worked wide to him in space and he put his foot down to accelerate away only to discover he couldn’t put any power through his hips.

May is back from England’s torrid Autumn Nations Series which has left head coach Eddie Jones fighting for his job, to rekindle his Cherry and Whites career having been absent for most of the last year either through injury or on internatio­nal duty.

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