Shane Geraghty's hopes of forcing his way into England contention for the RBS 6 Nations clash against France next Saturday could be dashed by injury.

The London Irish back went off before half-time during his club's 22-13 Guinness Premiership victory over Leicester.

Irish assistant coach Toby Booth said: "He has hyper-extended his knee.

"The swelling continued through the match, and it got to the stage where it wasn't worth the risk.

"There was an element of precaution."

Fitness permitting, the highly-rated Geraghty could be involved in Paris, where England must repeat last October's World Cup semi-final victory over France to keep their Six Nations campaign alive.

England head coach Brian Ashton is due to announce his starting line-up tomorrow, with changes expected following the uninspiring 23-19 victory over Italy last time out.

Scrum-half is one area for debate, with an out-of-form Andy Gomarsall not expected to retain the number nine shirt, losing it to either Richard Wigglesworth or an uncapped Paul Hodgson.

Hodgson was instrumental in Irish preventing Leicester from climbing to the Premiership summit, and Exiles rugby director Brian Smith said: "There are three blokes currently in the running and, for me, 'Dodger' has jumped ahead of one of them.

"There has been some question marks about the other scrum-halves' form, and if Brian Ashton saw his performance (against Leicester), it was courageous.

"When you go to France you are going to need people to front-up, and I think he's played himself into the England 22.

"Paul Hodgson is not being thrown into anything. He has played more than 100 first-class games and, arguably, half the Premiership games are more intense than half the Six Nations games.

"He is very well-matured and he's got more experience than one of the scrum-halves there, and a lot more legs than the other bloke. I think he deserves his chance."

League leaders Gloucester extended their advantage at the top to two points, despite losing 29-26 against Memorial Stadium hosts Bristol.

First-half tries from James Simpson-Daniel, Jack Adams and Anthony Allen were not enough to subdue a Bristol side inspired by 19 points from fly-half Jason Strange, plus touchdowns for hooker Scott Linklater and prop Jason Hobson.

And Gloucester boss Dean Ryan tore into his star-studded team, a line-up that included England trio Iain Balshaw, Lesley Vainikolo and Luke Narraway.

Ryan said: "I would like to apologise to anyone associated with Gloucester Rugby for that performance. It was unacceptable - appalling.

"We have had a group with people returning from internationals, but this is about Gloucester and it is performance-related, Being top of the league is not a crumb of comfort for me.

"We had a team with 10 or 12 internationals in it and strolled into town expecting it to happen, but went straight into a car crash. For me, that is unacceptable, and we must deal with it.

"I don't take any positives when there is a lack of personality in the group. If there is a lack of collective character, the rest of the game is irrelevant."

Saracens completed a poor weekend for the Premiership's top four as they came unstuck 16-14 at Newcastle, with England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson booting a late penalty to see the Falcons home.

Newcastle rugby director John Fletcher said: "We have absolute confidence over Jonny in those situations, because that's what he does best."

And Fletcher also allayed any fitness fears ahead of Paris about England centre Jamie Noon, who withdrew from the Newcastle line-up because of a tight hamstring.

Fletcher added: "He will be fine. He was very close (to playing). He just had tightness in his hamstring and hadn't trained all week.

"If this had been the last game of the season or a cup final, he would have been absolutely fine."

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