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London Irish flanker Declan Danaher could be ruled out for at least a month after damaging knee ligaments.
The 29-year-old was injured in the 27-25 home Heineken Cup defeat to Scarlets and gives the Guinness Premiership club a problem ahead of Leicester's visit to the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
Danaher, who scored a try against the Welsh side, has been an integral part of the Irish cause with his physical play supplementing the foraging skills of Steffon Armitage, the open side flanker, who was rested under the England elite player agreement for the Scarlets match.
Armitage will return against Leicester and will be up against Lewis Moody, his main rival for the England No7 jersey in the November internationals, and the Exiles back row forward has to win that personal battle to give his team the chance to regain lost momentum.
Toby Booth, the Irish director of rugby, said; "Declan is having a scan on his knee and it looks like ligament damage. Steffon will be back against Leicester and there is no question that we missed him against the Scarlets."
Exiles scrum-half Paul Hodgson will continue to play after Martin Johnson, the England team manager, agreed that keeping him on the pitch would best serve England's cause even though other members of the elite squad had to sit out at least one game before the November tests.
"England know that Paul is best when playing regularly," added Booth.
