Boss Boyd gives bleak injury update after Saints' defeat to Gloucester

The black, green and gold shipped six tries as they lost 40-31 in the Gallagher Premiership game at Franklin's Gardens.It leaves Saints seventh in the standings at the conclusion of the weekend and they now face a must-win game at Harlequins on Saturday as they bid to close the seven-point gap to the top four.But they will have to do it without a number of first-team players, with Heinrich Brüssow, Luther Burrell, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Moon all suffering injuries against Gloucester."It was expensive in a lot of ways," Boyd said."We've lost a couple of positions in the log (table), which is disappointing."We didn't play particularly well, which is disappointing."And the expensive thing is that we've sustained three, four, maybe five injuries that are going to make things tougher for us going forward."But it's a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man for other players."On the injuries, Boyd explained: "Brüssow and Luther had concussions and Heinrich's had a couple already this year so he'll go into the long-term basket."I don't suspect we'll see much of him for the rest of this year."Luther took a pretty bad blow, I think he might have broken his nose as well as got concussed. I don't think we'll see him back in the very near future."Lewis Ludlam's got a pretty bad stinger but nothing structurally too serious."Alex Moon has injured his ankle and on top of Dave Ribbans having his operation, we're a little bit thin in that space."But we know it's a long season and that's what you build squad depth for."We've just got to fight on."

Dylan Hartley is also set to miss the trip to Quins on Saturday, but the England hooker is nearing fitness after a knee injury that has kept him out since December.

"We've obviously got Harlequins down in London and then it's European Cup semi-final weekend and we don't have a game," Boyd said."I suspect Dylan will be very close to returning after that, when we've got critical games against Newcastle away and Worcester at home."