Cherries hit by inactive 'Volcano'

Gloucester face rest of season without winger Vainikolo

(Getty)

Lesley Vainikolo could not, even in his wildest dreams, have expected an England recall this side of doomsday – current evidence suggests that Martin Johnson, the national manager, is about as interested in his services as he is in the finer points of origami – but the outsized wing from Tonga via New Zealand might reasonably have anticipated a decent run for Gloucester as they continue to fight on three fronts. Sadly for the man they call "the Volcano", that too has been denied him. He underwent surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon on Monday night and will lie dormant for the rest of the season.

"This could not have come at a worse time," said Dean Ryan, the head coach, who has had more than his fill of bad news as he contemplates a series of important Premiership and Heineken Cup contests on which Gloucester's campaign will stand or fall. "With the injuries we already have, it will leave a very significant gap. His personality is an integral and vital part of our group."

The 29-year-old former rugby league international, currently facing a charge of causing grievous bodily harm arising from an alleged incident in Bath last October, left the Kingsholm pitch on a stretcher during the first half of Gloucester's hard-won Premiership victory over Saracens at the weekend and, as a result, Ryan finds himself without one of the few fixed points in his ever-changing back division.

Olly Morgan, Iain Balshaw, Anthony Allen and Olly Barkley have all been incapacitated in recent weeks, while the brilliant James Simpson-Daniel has been struggling with another bout of long-term injury. Even though Simpson-Daniel is now inching towards fitness, this latest setback further undermines Ryan's attempts to field a settled side.

Johnson, who names a revamped 32-man England squad for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship a week today, ditched Vainikolo last summer and has shown little inclination to rethink his decision. He will be far more concerned with happenings at Wasps, where two prime forwards, the flanker Tom Rees and the lock Tom Palmer, are in pieces.

Rees, such an important figure in the England side and a potential Lion this summer, will not play for at least two months after tearing the medial ligament in his right knee during the league victory over Harlequins at the weekend, while Palmer smashed his shoulder in the pre-Christmas match with Saracens. Rees has no realistic chance of featuring in the Six Nations.

Ian McGeechan, the Wasps director of rugby, was flabbergasted by Rees's run of misfortune. "He has no luck at all," he said. "This is the third time he's had this problem. It's also an issue for us, of course. We have a big game at Bath on Saturday and just at the moment, we can't seem to put the same XV on the field two weeks running."

McGeechan added that his English champions would travel to the Recreation Ground without the experienced Test lock Simon Shaw, who underwent a minor "cleaning out" operation on his elbow two days ago. There again, Bath also have engine-room issues. Peter Short, thought to be close to an England call-up, broke a thumb during the narrow defeat at Leicester on Sunday and joins the stricken Danny Grewcock on the list of unavailables.

There was at least a little good news on the casualty front yesterday. The Wales wing Shane Williams, who added the Rugby Union Writers' Club's player of the year award to his fast-growing collection of gongs on Monday night, has recovered from shoulder trouble and may feature for Ospreys against Munster in this weekend's round of Magners League fixtures.