Knee injury threatens Hill's autumn campaign

On the day the International Rugby Board declined to nominate anyone remotely English for their forthcoming player of the year award - apart, that is, from a pair of uncapped journeymen, Simon Amor, of Gloucester, and Ben Gollings, of Worcester, in the seven-a-side category - one of the players of the decade saw his chances of participating in the autumn internationals at Twickenham fade from view in a haze of anaesthetic. Richard Hill, flanker supreme, is now rated highly doubtful for the world champions' match with Canada on 13 November, not to mention the subsequent meetings with South Africa and Australia.

Hill hurt his left knee during Saracens' defeat at London Irish last Sunday and had to be carried from the pitch. He was scanned on Tuesday, but the results were unclear. Last night, he underwent an arthroscopy in the hope that the extent of the wreckage might at least be identified, if not quickly repaired. He admitted before the operation that he was "shocked" at the prospect of a long-term absence from active duty, adding: "Following the progress I seemed to have made in the 48 hours after suffering the injury, this was not the outcome I was hoping for."

England are in no position to make light of Hill's predicament. Having lost the likes of Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and Jason Leonard to Test retirement, they are waiting anxiously for developments on the Phil Vickery and Lewis Moody fronts. Both forwards played second-team rugby on Monday night after lengthy injury lay-offs, but there is no guarantee either will achieve match fitness in time for the November internationals.

If Hill is ruled out and the Tests arrive too early for Moody, Andy Robinson's loose forward options will be significantly reduced. The acting head coach could have played the Saracen in any of the three back-row roles; an experienced No 8, Hill operated on the blind-side flank during last year's successful World Cup campaign and at open side on the somewhat less successful summer tour of the Antipodes. In his absence, Joe Worsley, of Wasps, will certainly feature in the starting XV, with Leicester's Martin Corry oand Chris Jones, of Sale, contesting another place and a gaggle of breakaway specialists - Andy Hazell of Gloucester, Michael Lipman of Bath, and the in-form Pat Sanderson of Worcester - playing tug of war with the No 7 shirt.

Saracens themselves will be none too pleased, given the extent of their existing casualty list. Already missing three international forwards in the contrasting shapes of the Springbok prop Cobus Visagie, the Scotland lock Iain Fullarton and the England flanker Alex Sanderson, a long run without Hill's experience and expertise would most likely cement them in the lower reaches of the Premiership.

Meanwhile, the IRB felt able to ignore England almost completely as it issued its lists of runners and riders for the grand awards evening in London at the end of November. The French flanker Serge Betsen, the Springbok loose forward Schalk Burger and two southern hemisphere centres - Marius Joubert of South Africa and Matt Giteau of Australia - were nominated for the player of the year prize, along with a single challenger from the British Isles, the Irish midfielder Gordon D'Arcy. In the team contest, South Africa are included as Tri-Nations champions along with France, who won the Grand Slam in 2004, and, er, Portugal. Yes, Portugal. Oh, how the mighty world champions have fallen.

Not long ago, the Leicester lock Ben Kay might have featured in an IRB honours list in recognition of the brilliance of his work in the England line-out. But Kay has fallen on stony ground since the World Cup - indeed, he was omitted from the summer tour because of poor form - and his place against Canada is under serious threat from the likes of Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock and the uncapped Alex Brown of Gloucester.

On Saturday, however, Kay will have an opportunity to stake his claim for England preferment. Having made only two appearances for the Tigers this season, he will replace the injured Louis Deacon for the home match against Bath - the only change to the Leicester side that slaughtered Newcastle 44-15 at Kingston Park last weekend. Deacon is suffering from shoulder problems, and drops to the bench. This means Kay will meet the Bath pairing of Borthwick and Grewcock head on in an attempt to catch the eye of the national hierarchy.