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Danny Cipriani has been ruled out for up to six weeks after sustaining a chest injury during Gloucester’s European Rugby Champions Cup defeat to Exeter Chiefs.
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The pivot’s hopes of forcing his way back into the England squad suffered a blow when he did damage late in the first half of the clash at Kingsholm last Friday.
Cipriani sustained a “small” tear to a muscle in his chest and could be sidelined until late next month, so Owen Williams is set to get his chance at number 10.
Cherry and Whites head coach Johan Ackermann told Gloucestershire live: “He’s been part of every game this season and played a lot of those games for 80 minutes so it is a big challenge now for us to get through this block without him.
“But credit to Owen, he’s been training well and he’s been waiting for his opportunity then he got it through Mark Atkinson’s injury at 12 and he didn’t let the side down, played good there.
“Now we’re going to rely on him to cover that 10 position as well.
“The good news for us is that this week Lloyd Evans has got the green light so he’s back in full training and that gives us that little bit of freedom.
“We know we’ve got Billy Twelvetrees who can also help us there but the big thing is the team was just getting used to playing with Danny. Now we just have to settle in and again we have got a lot of faith that Owen will take us forward.”
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Gloucester have also lost Italy back row Jake Polledri (ankle) for up to 12 weeks.
