Chiefs await news on Parling

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter does not yet know the full extent of the groin injury which forced off England lock Geoff Parling's five minutes into his debut for the Devon club against London Irish last Saturday.

Parling underwent a scan on Monday evening and did not take part in training yesterday as he underwent physiotherapy work.

The 31-year-old sustained the injury after falling awkwardly while being tackled in the comprehensive 38-11 win over the Exiles. He had come on after 56 minutes, but went off just five minutes later.

"Geoff had a scan on Monday night, so we are awaiting the results on that, but he is a little sore," said head coach Baxter. "He is undergoing some physio on Tuesday and I doubt he will be doing any training that day.

"It is just a day-by-day assessment during the week as we get the full results of the scan and see how he reacts in the next day or two. Until we get the full results, we won't know but we are just hoping we can get him out on the training field as soon as possible."

Baxter did confirm that summer signing Parling, who has 28 England caps to his name, did confirm that the problem was a strain rather than an impact injury.

"It is a strain-type injury rather than a bump or bruise. It is frustrating but these things happen and it is something you have to deal with," he continued.

"He has come into a new club for just a couple of weeks. There has been a change in his training regime from what he was doing with Leicester and then England.

"Injuries are funny things because sometimes they can feel quite severe and not be too much, but other times they can feel like small niggles and actually be quite serious."

Chiefs travel to Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership on Sunday (1pm).