Bath sweat over Jonathan Joseph injury ahead of England summer tour as Billy Vunipola nears Saracens return

The contrast between Saracens and Bath could not be made clearer immediately after the former prevailed 41-6 on Sunday afternoon, as while Mark McCall prepared to welcome Billy Vunipola back from long-term injury, Todd Blackadder was facing the possibility of losing Jonathan Joseph to one that could rule him out of England’s tour of South Africa.

Joseph was forced off in the 28th minute of Bath’s heavy defeat at Allianz Park after his ankle was trapped underneath him in a collision with Saracens flanker Schalk Burger, with the England international helped off the field and making his way around the perimeter of the pitch on crutches. Leaving the ground with his left foot in a protective boot, the prognosis doesn’t look good for Joseph, although Blackadder hoped that the knock will not prove too serious.

"Jonathan looks like he's given his ankle a really good tweak,” director of rugby Blackadder said after the heavy defeat. “We're not sure how long he'll be out for but he's got next week off anyway. Hopefully it won't be too serious.”

Having seen Saracens score 29 unanswered points in 41 minutes, Blackadder has plenty to worry about given that it’s almost certain that Bath will miss out on the European Champions Cup next season, with two bonus-point victories needed to give them any chance of overtaking Gloucester to snatch sixth.

Having seen the four clubs below in the Premiership table all change their director of rugby this season, Blackadder could well find his head on the block come next month, but he admitted that his future will be out of his hands.

“I don't think we're that far away,” he added. “We just need some extra resources in some key areas. If we get that we'll look a different side.

“I can't worry about that (his Bath future). I can only worry about getting the performances we're working hard for. If someone wants to make those decisions, it's nothing I can control.”

But while Bath could lose Joseph for the rest of the season, Saracens look set to enter the play-offs with Billy Vunipola back in the ranks. The England No 8 has not played since fracturing his forearm on 13 January in the European draw with Ospreys, and with Michael Rhodes also returning against Bath as a second-half replacement, McCall is starting to find his selection choices rather tricky.

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“Certain for Gloucester, probable for London Irish,” McCall said about Vunipola’s possible return. “We’d like to get him some game time against London Irish, just to get him up and running for the play-offs with a game behind him.

“[Selection] hasn’t been difficult all year and it’s going to be difficult – hopefully incredibly difficult – come the play-off, especially if Billy comes back and Michael Rhodes in there too. Liam Williams has shown some real class at full-back but you’ve got Alex Goode coming off the bench with 25 minutes to go and looked pretty tasty when he came on as well, so we’ve got some good options at the moment.”