Ollie Thorley limped off inside 20 minutes in Gloucester’s 46-41 defeat to Sale Sharks. Johan Ackermann gave an update on the winger’s injury as well as discussing why he left Tom Marshall on the bench when Tom Seabrook went off injured.
Ollie Thorley injury update
The English winger went off with what looked like an uncomfortable injury to his knee, but Johan Ackermann doesn’t believe his season’s done yet. The South African said: “He’s disappointed as he doesn’t feel as good as he wanted to feel.
“I don’t want to guess what the outcome will be as we’ll have to reassess his knee to see if it’s just a precaution or is there something else.
“He’s definitely fine now but he said he didn’t feel fine and wouldn’t carry on if he wasn’t 100%.
“I think it was more precautionary and we’ll reassess it to see if he’s available. He ticked all the boxes and the stuff the medical staff wanted.
“He told me he felt confident to play and I’d rather it happen now than in the final.”
Why Marshall remained on the bench
When Tom Seabrook quickly followed Ollie Thorley off the field with an injury Gloucester chose to send on scrum half Ben Vellacott despite having the additional winger in Tom Marshall on the bench.
Discussing the reasoning behind the move Ackermann explained, “It was too early. We’d already decided that Tom [Marshall] wasn’t going to play more than 30 minutes.
“The fact Ben has played on the wing before we decided to put him on first.
“I don’t want to compromise the limits that the medical staff give to me unless it’s forced on to us but we had that option.”
Gloucester will also be hoping that Ed Slater is able to return to action next week when they face Saracens.
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