Pre-season round-up
Henson suffers cheekbone injury
ESPN Staff
August 25, 2012
Leicester's Vereniki Goneva goes past his marker, Leicester Tigers v Nottingham, Welford Road, Leicester, August 25, 2012
Vereniki Goneva on the charge for Leicester against Nottingham © Getty Images
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Teams: England | France | Scotland

Gavin Henson has suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone as London Welsh lost 23-17 to the Scarlets on Saturday.

Henson came off in the 33rd minute of the game and he went to hospital to have an X-ray on the injury. On the field, London Welsh acquitted themselves well against the Scarlets with Scott Williams scoring a late try to give the home side the victory. Lee Beach and Jonah Holmes scored London Welsh's tries with Andy Fenby crossing for the Scarlets' other score.

The news will do little to boost the optimism of the Exiles ahead of the new season but Lyn Jones is hopeful that it will just be bruising and not an injury that will keep him out for a lengthy spell.

"I'm waiting for a little bit of feedback before we can say what the extent of the injury is," Jones said. "It's not great but perhaps it's just bruising, we'll see. He had a late shoulder barge into his face. Gav tried to play on but it was advisable that he went for an x-ray."

Elsewhere on Saturday, the Leicester Tigers made light work of Nottingham as they despatched them 64-7. Scott Hamilton and new signing Vereniki Goneva both grabbed braces with other scores from Thomas Waldrom, Anthony Allen, Jordan Crane, Richard Thorpe, Alex Lewington and a penalty try giving Richard Cockerill's men the win.

Gloucester also faced Championship opposition and they recorded a similarly dominant win with a 54-9 triumph over Doncaster at Kingsholm. Jamie Lennard nudged the away side into the lead with two penalties early on but tries from Charlie Sharples, Ben Morgan, Akapusi Qera, Dan Robson, Sione Kalamafoni, Tim Taylor, Dave Lewis and Drew Locke gave Gloucester the win.

On Friday evening, Danny Cipriani made his first start for Sale Sharks as Brian Redpath's side held Heineken Cup champions Leinster to a 10-10 draw in Salford.

The former England fly-half, who came on as a substitute in Sale's previous pre-season game against Glasgow, showed some good touches and kicked a penalty before being replaced by Nick Macleod in the 52nd minute. Fullback Rob Miller, who was touted as a future England international by many last season, scored Sale's solitary try which was converted by Macleod. Winger Andrew Conway touched down for Leinster with Ian Madigan kicking the conversion and Noel Reid landing a penalty.

London Irish gained a confidence-boosting 34-10 victory over Munster at Musgrave Park on Friday evening. Fly-half Steven Shingler starred for Irish as he ran in a try as well as kicking two conversions and five penalties for the Exiles. Irish outscored a virtually full strength Munster side three tries to one with Topsy Ojo and Marland Yarde also touching down for Brian Smith's side while Munster scored a consolation try at the death through Sean Henry.

Northampton Saints concluded their pre-season preparations in style as they ran in eight tries against Edinburgh. Skipper Dylan Hartley and Ken Pisi both scored two tries apiece while Tom Wood, Soane Tonga'uiha, Martin Roberts and Ben Foden all crossed for the Saints, who start their Premiership campaign away at Gloucester next Saturday. Ryan Lamb converted three of the tries while Stephen Myler added a further four conversions in the last 20 minutes.

Olly Barkley led Bath to a 26-8 victory over Cardiff Blues as they finished their pre-season unbeaten. The former England international scored a try and kicked four penalties and two conversions for a personal haul of 21 points with replacement fullback Jack Cuthbert scoring the other try. Wales international Alex Cuthbert scored Cardiff's only try with Gareth Davies adding a penalty.

Elsewhere on Friday night Plymouth shocked a young Worcester side at Sixways as the Championship club beat their Premiership opponents 36-3 and last season's Heineken Cup runners up Ulster edged out a newlook Newcastle side 24-20 at Ravenhill.

Saracens flyer Chris Ashton bagged a hat-trick and helped his side demolish Stade Francais 61-17 at the Honourable Artillery Company ground on Thursday night .

Sarries boasted the likes of Alex Goode, Owen Farrell, Ashton and Mouritz Botha in their ranks while Stade included Felipe Contepomi. But the Aviva Premiership side proved to be too much for their French counterparts with a performance that outshone the Top 14 side in every area. Ashton's hat-trick was added to by a double from Goode and scored from Kelly Brown, Farrell, Nick Fenton-Wells and Eoin Sherriff.

Elsewhere on Thursday evening, the Exeter Chiefs downed RaboDirect PRO12 side Glasgow Warriors 15-6. Duncan Weir kicked two penalties for the Warriors with tries from Chris Whitehead and James Hanks helping them over line. And the Northampton Saints were also in action and they overcame Moseley 35-22 at Franklin's Gardens. Noah Cato bagged two tries with Martin Roberts, Tom Collins and new signing Luther Burrell also scoring.

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