Dan Carter is a concern for Perpignan's make-or-break Heineken Cup match against the Ospreys next weekend after injuring his Achilles on Top 14 duty. The New Zealand fly-half felt pain in his left Achilles tendon during the first half of Perpignan's 40-14 win over Bourgoin and was replaced at half-time as a precaution. He will undergo tests to determine the extent of the injury and is set to miss training at the start of next week as USAP prepare for Saturday's visit of the Ospreys.
"From the half-hour mark, I felt the pain getting sharper and I thought it wise to go off at half-time," said the All Blacks star. "It's frustrating because I wanted to play and the team were playing very well. "I will take some tests on Monday and we will decide with the staff if it is better that I take some days' rest without training."
Carter is nevertheless expected to be fit for Saturday's match, which the Catalan club have to win if they are to remain in the hunt for qualification for the competition's quarter-finals. Perpignan are currently in third place in Pool Three, six points behind joint-leaders Leicester and the Ospreys. Meanwhile, the New Zealand flanker Jerry Collins could be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after injuring his knee during Toulon's Top 14 defeat to Brive. The powerful All Black back-row forward was carried off after being tackled by the Brive prop Pascal Idieder just 10 minutes into the match. The exact nature of Collins' injury is not yet known but it is already feared he could be out of action for several months. Collins was one of the southern club's big-money signings of last summer. *PA Sport
