Here are you morning rugby headlines for Tuesday, January 7.
Young's signing criticised
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young made a "clumsy mistake" signing former All Black Lima Sopoaga.
That's the view of pundit Stuart Barnes.
Sopoaga was branded the "worst signing" in the Premiership last season by The Times as he failed to live up to the hype around his acquistion.
"The signing of Lima Sopoaga was a clumsy mistake on the part of Dai Young, the [Wasps] director of rugby," Barnes says .
"A burly South Islander with a few All Black caps and an entirely different way of playing to (Danny) Cipriani was never going to ease seamlessly into the No 10 shirt.
"Wasps were never going to reproduce the beautiful balance of their all-out offence."
Ireland hit by fly-half crisis
Joey Carbery has emerged as a huge doubt for Ireland's Six Nations tilt after sustaining a wrist ligament injury.
The physical fly-half picked up the knock during Munster's PRO14 clash with Ulster and now needs to go under the knife.
Carbery has been “ruled out for the immediate future” according to the Munster website which could keep him on the sidelines for up to three months.
The Irish are already sweating on the fitness of star man Johnny Sexton. “He’s making good progress, but that would be a tremendous turnaround from a MCL [medial collateral ligament] injury,” said Stuart Lancaster on Sexton making a return for the game against Benetton.
“It’s not an injury that you suddenly go from being not injured to fit again in two or three weeks. It takes time to strengthen the ligament, to start running again and everything that goes into being back fit again and playing a robust game like rugby. So it’s going to take some time but he has made some good progress and everyone’s optimistic about how he’s going to go over the next couple of weeks.”
Ireland start their campaign with a home game against Scotland in Dublin on February 1.
Rugby waits on Michael Fatialofa surgery update
Worcester lock Michael Fatialofa was due to undergo surgery last night after sustaining a serious neck injury against Saracens last weekend.
He was taken to St Mary's hospital in Paddington and has been in intensive care, with his wife Tatiana posting a picture and message on Monday evening, saying: "A prayer and a smile before first surgery. One hurdle at a time my angel."
A statement from Worcester read: "Michael received an injury to his neck during Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership match against Saracens at Allianz Park which left him with reduced power and sensation in his arms and legs.
"He was taken to St. Mary’s hospital in Paddington where he remains in the Intensive Care Unit. He is fully awake and alert and has his family with him.
"Initial scans were positive showing no broken bones, however, he has some bruising and swelling on his spinal cord.
"He will undergo surgery this evening (Monday) in order to relieve the pressure caused by the bruising and help restore function."
