Worrying Lawes 'symptoms' update five weeks after his head injury

Northampton boss Phil Dowson says that England captain Courtney Lawes continues to have symptoms after suffering a head injury five weeks ago. The England and Saints forward has not played since September 24 and he pulled out of this week’s national squad training camp in Jersey as he follows the required return-to-play protocols.

England kick-off their Autumn Nations Series campaign against Argentina on November 6, which is followed by further Twickenham appointments with Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, but there is now every chance that Lawes will be missing for the start of that campaign.

“He went to see a specialist this week. He will keep going through the process until he feels better,” Dowson said following the 45-31 Gallagher Premiership victory by Northampton over Bristol at Franklin’s Gardens.  “It’s day by day with him. He is biking, lifting weights and running. He still gets symptoms and we cannot move beyond that point until he is OK.

If he feels brilliant on Monday and he is flying around and Eddie (Jones) wants him to play some minutes, it’s up to him. He won’t necessarily need to play for us first because he usually drops right in. It will be interesting to see what Eddie says," added Dowson, weighing up the chances of Lawes playing for England in the coming weeks.

Alex Mitchell ran the show as Northampton condemned Bristol to a fourth successive Premiership defeat. Scrum-half Mitchell, who has been overlooked by Jones for the autumn Tests, sparked a first-half try blitz by crossing twice in six minutes.

Wing Ollie Sleightholme and lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto followed suit before the break as Northampton secured a bonus point after just 32 minutes. Matt Proctor added a fifth try early in the second period, with debutant fly-half Fin Smith kicking five conversions and a penalty as he impressed following his arrival from Worcester.

Dowson added: “We showed resilience and to get to 31-7 at half-time showed how well we played. There was some great finishing. Alex was brilliant. He is playing so well, he is so dangerous, he gets the game moving quickly and he will always sniff out a gap. He is improving all the time. It was a very mature performance. He has got to keep banging on the (England) door, and I am sure at some stage he will get an opportunity.”

Bristol led through a fourth-minute Harry Thacker try that Callum Sheedy converted, but they had no answer to Saints’ all-court game when it clicked and was supremely marshalled by Mitchell. The visitors performed much better in the second half as Sheedy converted his own 53rd-minute try and flanker Magnus Bradbury also scored.

Thacker then crossed for his second touchdown that AJ MacGinty converted, securing a losing bonus, and MacGinty claimed a fifth Bristol try during the closing seconds, but Saints were never seriously threatened.

James Grayson converted his own late try for the home side, with Northampton following Newcastle, Exeter and Gloucester in piling Premiership misery on Pat Lam’s team, who have not won in the league since toppling London Irish five weeks ago.

“They are a good side, I love the way they play, but we were losing ball that gave them easy ins,” said head coach Lam said. “31-7 at half-time it was not looking good. We had to believe and work our way back, but a couple more turnovers made the job harder. We had a lot of opportunities that we blew.

"We were chasing the whole game, but a lot of it was us gifting Saints opportunities and we paid the price for it. We gave them possession that they didn’t need to have. We have to dust ourselves off, get back up and go again. All we can control is what we do, and we had a lot of opportunities in that second half.”

Lam, meanwhile, reported that captain Joe Joyce failed a head injury assessment and full-back Charles Piutau suffered a facial cut. Both players made first-half exits.