Northampton Saints confirm Rob Horne is conscious and 'talking' in hospital

Northampton Saints have confirmed that Rob Horne is being treated in hospital following a brutal headclash sustained in his side’s dramatic win over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road today.

Horne – who was captaining the side – was removed from play just one minute into the derby match. The stand-in captain took a nasty blow chasing down the kick-off and was subsequently taken to hospital where he was treated for head trauma.

The Saints Twitter account tweeted: “Rob Horne has been taken to hospital, is talking and under assessment after his early bang this afternoon.”

Rob Horne has been taken to hospital, is talking and under assessment after his early bang this afternoon.

All the best, Rob – the lads did a job for you!

— Northampton Saints ? (@SaintsRugby) April 14, 2018

Leicester Tigers tweeted: “On behalf of the whole Tigers Family, we wish a speedy recovery to Rob”.

Northampton Saints halted fierce rivals Leicester Tigers’ winning run with a surprise 27-21 Premiership victory and Wasps moved up to third with a win over Worcester Warriors on Saturday.

A five-match winning run had the Tigers marching towards a semi-final spot, but Northampton stunned an expectant Welford Road crowd with a spirited display a week after suffering a humiliating 63-13 drubbing by Saracens.

Northampton had lost four Premiership games in a row prior to making the short trip to face their foes, yet they showed great character to complete a double over the Tigers.

The Saints were heroic in defence and had a cutting edge in attack, Ben Foden going over for the opening try in the left corner.

Telusa Veainu went under the posts at the other end following a powerful run from Ellis Genge and Leicester were in front when Matt Toomua dotted down, but Northampton led 17-12 at the break after the influential Cobus Reinach burst through to finish off a clever move.

Ahsee Tuala stretched Northampton’s lead by steaming over for their third try and three George Ford penalties were all Leicester, who welcomed back Ben Youngs, could muster in the second half, a late Jonah Holmes try ruled out for crossing on a frustrating day for Matt O’Connor’s side.

Watch episode 1 of ‘Rugby Explorer’ below

Ex-Scotland international, Jim Hamilton, travels to Singapore to explore the city and find out more about the rugby scene in the Southeast Asian country. He meets up with the national team captain and several local players.