Rees injured after international-class display

World Cup winner Joe Worsley has hailed his Wasps team-mate Tom Rees as a potential England star of the future.

But Rees is unlikely to be in the mood to celebrate his 21st birthday today, despite a brilliant two-try display against Guinness Premiership rivals Leicester that prompted Worsley’s bold prediction.

Flanker Rees, last season’s England Under-21 captain, faces another frustrating lay-off after suffering a suspected broken ankle during the 29-29 draw at Causeway Stadium.

The latest injury blow follows a similar setback four months ago, when Rees saw his season ended by ankle damage as Wasps defeated Premiership semi-final opponents Sale Sharks.

His possible prolonged absence will be a huge blow to Wasps, who are without their talisman number eight Lawrence Dallaglio until November.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed it is not a fracture, but you worry when you see the ankle twist like that,” said Wasps rugby director Ian McGeechan.

“I’ve been having chats with (England coach) Andy Robinson about various players, and I told him Tom isn’t far away. We don’t want him picking up injuries, because to get international selection you need to be playing consistently.

“I like what I see with Tom – he is a clever player and reads the game well. He gets into very good positions, much like Richard Hill.”

Worsley has no doubt that Rees is good enough to make the international grade, adding: “He will be given a shot for England, eventually.

“He has the raw potential to go all the way, he is one of the best young back-row forwards I’ve come across. He puts a lot of pressure on myself, Lawrence and Jonny (O’Connor).”

Despite Rees’ double and 19 points from full-back Mark Van Gisbergen, their New Zealand-born points machine who qualifies for England on residency grounds tomorrow, Wasps could not put Leicester away.

Tigers matched their hosts blow for blow, gaining two valuable away points and maintaining an unbeaten start to the league season through fly-half Andy Goode’s goalkicking, plus tries from Harry Ellis and Tom Varndell.

“We took our opportunities and kept our composure. We are okay with the result,” said Leicester head coach Pat Howard.

Sale’s hopes of stealing a march on both clubs and moving to the Premiership summit were dashed in dramatic fashion at Kingsholm.

Leading Gloucester by four points, and reduced to six forwards with England pair Chris Jones and Andrew Sheridan sin-binned, Sharks were just seconds from holding on when referee Roy Maybank awarded the home side a penalty try that fly-half Ludovic Mercier converted for a 21-18 victory.

The winning score came 10 minutes into injury time after five line-outs within touching distance of Sale’s line, and Maybank had little option but to penalise Sharks, given their repeated infringing.

“We shouldn’t have had to go five times to the well, but we got our reward in the end,” said Gloucester boss Dean Ryan.

Ryan, meanwhile, played down an injury scare surrounding England centre Mike Tindall, who limped off early in the second half on his Premiership home debut, nursing a muscle strain.

Bath’s desperate start to the league campaign continued at home against Northampton, where centre Seamus Mallon’s late try secured a 17-9 win for Saints and left their opponents with just one point from two games.

As in the defeat against Bristol last weekend, kickers Olly Barkley and Chris Malone were guilty of appalling inaccuracy, missing six shots at goal between them.

“We lost our first two games last year and finished fourth. It’s best not to look at the bottom of the table,” said Bath rugby director John Connolly.

Nothing went right for Bath, who saw new signing Salesi Finau sin-binned after just two minutes, while Northampton bounced back following their 32-0 drubbing against Leicester seven days earlier.

“The most important thing was the attitude we took into the game,” said Saints rugby director Budge Pountney.

“We turned around a big defeat at Leicester last week with a relatively new team, and that’s good. I think they found the passion we’ve always had at Northampton.”