NEWCASTLE Falcons could be forced into the transfer market again, with prop-forward James Hall facing a lengthy injury lay-off.
The tight-head left the field against Gloucester three weeks ago with knee ligament damage, and could be sidelined for anywhere up to nine months.
Club bosses have yet to decide on the best course of action, but should they opt to send the former Coventry man under the knife to repair anterior cruciate ligament damage, they would find themselves badly exposed at the beginning of the new season.
Current starter Euan Murray will be away with the Scotland squad in World Cup action until November, while Micky Ward, Tim Ryan and Kieran Brookes are all near-certainties to move on in the summer.
That leaves summer signing Daniel Frazier as the only specialist tight-head left in the squad, with head coach Alan Tait currently surveying his options ahead of a potential swoop.
On the loose-head side Jon Golding and Grant Shiells provide cover, but the Falcons are yet to make a final decision on Darren Fearn’s involvement beyond the end of this season.
Elsewhere in the squad, Tait is still on the look-out for a scrum-half but, with Chris Pilgrim already on the books and Gloucester’s Jordi Pasqualin signed up, attention has turned to recruiting a more up-and-coming talent to fill the third half-back slot.
Pilgrim’s impressive recent performances and the steadying influence of Pasqualin have reassured the head coach that funds can be moved elsewhere in the squad, with centre Rob Vickerman a potential beneficiary with a new deal understood to be on the table.
England Under-20s captain Alex Gray remains in talks, with the club keen to secure the future of their out-of-contract back-row man.
The financial element of the deal is understood not to be a sticking point, but rather the length of contract for the hugely promising youngster.
A complicating element is the fact that Falcons bosses are entitled to a significant five-figure compensation package if homegrown talent Gray departs this summer, while they would receive nothing should the flanker moved to pastures new this time next year.
Partly for that reason the club are determined to pin him down on a deal in excess of a single season, and talks are progressing to reach a resolution.
Elsewhere in the squad, flanker Redford Pennycook will miss the last two games of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery, while centre James Fitzpatrick is also a doubt for the remainder of the campaign with torn quadriceps.
Fullback Jeremy Manning could return to the fray this Saturday for the visit of Bath after missing the past few weeks with a hip injury, while skipper James Hudson is hoping for at least some involvement in the climax to the Premiership survival battle. Jeremy Manning joined in training last Wednesday, and he is looking comfortable enough,” said Tait, in reference to his Kiwi fullback.
“He might need an operation at the end of the season, but he keeps saying to me that he will wait until then, and that he is happy to play in the interim. He could be available for the last two games, and that would be a big bonus because we all know what a class operator he is at the back there.
“James Hudson is responding well to treatment on his knee injury, and he has had an injection just to see if that will settle the problem down. He reckons he has one or maybe even two games in him between now and the end of the season, but we will just see how he goes and keep taking advice from the medical staff.
“James Fitzpatrick is the other one, and he has torn a quad so we will have to see how he responds to treatment - but is looking a little bit doubtful for the moment.”
