Guinness Premiership new boys Leeds Carnegie will be hoping for a change of luck going into this Sunday's clash with Saracens at Headingley Carnegie, kick off 3pm.
Leeds lost fly half Alberto Di Bernardo and back row Hendre Fourie in their opening game of the season and the injury list now includes Scottish international Jon Dunbar who suffered a tear to his hamstring in Saturday's defeat at Harlequins. Dunbar will definitely miss Sunday's game but he will be monitored next week to see whether he can return at Newcastle.
Leeds are also without scrum half Darren Edwards, who also has a hamstring pull suffered in training and Andy Tuilagi, who suffered a wrist injury with Samoa. Director of Rugby Stuart Lancaster had hoped to have giant prop Fosi Pala'amo back for this weekend following the completion of Samoa's World Cup campaign however Pala'amo has been released from the national squad to return home to Sydney for family reasons.
Good news has come for Leeds with the return from injury of Rob Vickerman. The England Sevens international has been out for over 18 months having suffered two anterior cruciate ligmant ruptures but he made a successful return in the A team on Monday night and will be part of the squad for this weekend.
Commenting on the injury news Lancaster said, "It is obviously disappointing to lose Jon but that is the nature of the game in the Guinness Premiership and you have to respond to challenges like this. We have a number of other players who will not train until later in the week but hopefully they will be cleared to play. I was delighted to see Rob back in action on Monday night and a number of other players showed that they are ready for selection for the first team so we do have some options there."
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Gary Hetherington has confirmed that the club have received an indication from Stephen Larkham's management team that the Australian star will not be joining Leeds Carnegie. Hetherington commented, "We made our offer to Stephen two weeks ago but we always understood we were up against clubs who could offer him the opportunity to play in the Heineken Cup and we understand what a big attraction that is to a player. His management team have indicated that he is going to progress other offers and whilst we are obviously disappointed, we wish him all the best for the future."