Saints waiting for scan results after Smith suffers injury
Phil Dowson says Saints are waiting on scan results for Fin Smith after the England star suffered an injury last weekend.
The fly-half battled hard for the black, green and gold in their 28-7 defeat to Leicester Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road last Saturday.
But he was eventually withdrawn with eight minutes to go, bringing Ollie Sleightholme into the action and seeing James Pater switch from full-back to fly-half.
Smith had appeared to be in some discomfort during the first half and was seen limping with an ice pack on his leg after the game.
Smith was one of nine Saints players named in England's 36-man training squad on Sunday night, joining Manny Iyogun, Alex Coles, Tom Pearson, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell, Archie McParland, Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman at Pennyhill Park.
But on Monday morning, England released a squad update, confirming that Gloucester No.10 Charlie Atkinson had been called up to replace Smith, who remained with the Red Rose to continue his rehabilitation on what was revealed as a calf injury.
The England camp was due to come to an end on Tuesday so Smith and his fellow Saints players will return to Northampton.
And the black, green and gold will now hope for the best.
"He's obviously got a slight injury so we're waiting to hear scan results and see what happens with that," Dowson said at Tuesday's media session.
If Smith does have to miss Saints' home Gallagher PREM clash with table-toppers Gloucester on Saturday evening, Anthony Belleau would be the natural choice to replace him at fly-half.
And Dowson said: "You need a squad. There’s going to be guys who drop out with injury and I think we’ve got a good record of bringing people in and understanding talent, understanding character.
"Tony (Belleau) is a great man in the environment and a very good player. We’re fortunate to have him for these occasions and to compete with Fin and put his name down to start ahead of Fin if he’s playing well enough.”