SAINTS’ loss of international prop Alex Walmsley for the rest of the season with a foot injury has been compounded by another injury to a front rower.

Interchange prop Dan Norman is also out of action after X-rays revealed that the facial injury he picked up on the last game of the regular season against Toulouse is a fractured cheekbone.

Although coach Kristian Woolf had already said that he would expect Agnatius Paasi to step up as a starting front rower, that leaves a void on the bench.

Saints do have options there. Jake Wingfield has played some prop middle when coming off the bench, and if needs be, Morgan Knowles can hold that position should he be spelled James Bell at 13.

Woolf said: “Dan Norman is definitely unavailable this week. His cheekbone injury (from the Toulouse game) is a fractured cheekbone, unfortunately.

“That is just a little bit where we are at there at the moment and have finished the year with a lot of players unavailable.

“Some of that changes a little for us this week but a lot of it doesn’t.”

With Tommy Makinson definitely fit from a troublesome knee, Mark Percival lined up to play for the first time since May and Sione Mata’utia likely to play too then Saints’ backline will be bolstered.

Will Hopoate will be looked at in training this week to see if he is 100 per cent to play.

Woolf added: “What I will say is that we are going to throw a side out there that I am extremely confident in.

“I am confident because they are all blokes out there in the right positions who we can really trust in big games and have that experience in big games.

“I will also say that this will be the strongest side we have put out there since Magic weekend.”