Former England prop Waller looks set to play for the Lions

Conor Gracey scores the first of his three tries against Old Northamptonians. Picture: Mick Sutterby

Because of a crippling injury list, head coach Darren Fox finds himself desperately short of front row forwards leading up to the National League Division Three clash and has been searching for replacements.

And it’s almost certain he’ll have signed young Cambridge prop Josh Waller on loan in time for Saturday’s game.

Waller (21), who has turned out for the Cambridge first team in National League Division Two this season, played for the England Under 18 Schools and Clubs side two seasons ago.

“Josh is a Peterborough lad I know a lot about and I’m trying to get him here on loan,” said Fox.

“He’s only young but has played at a decent level with Bedford and Cambridge and will do a good job for us.

“And I’m hoping to make another loan signing as well before Saturday. I’ve got to - we’ve run out of props.”

The Lions lost three props on Saturday before and during the game against Old Northamptonians. Ben Howerd was ruled out on the day of the game with a back injury, Nico Steenkamp injured his calf in the warm-up and then at half-time Chris Cutts went off with a rib injury.

And then a quarter-of-an-hour before the end of the game, second row Matt Dunn, who had been filling in at prop, went off to hospotal with a fractured collarbone.

Steenkamp, Cutts and Dunn won’t play on Saturday and Howerd is doubtful.

“Matt Dunn is likely to be out for a few weeks,” said Fox, “and that is a big loss. He was playing really well. He was a lineout leader and was getting much more physical around the park.

“Seeing as we had so many players injured I thought we did really well to beat ONs 33-8. We weren’t able to dominate the scrums, but the boys dug deep and I was very happy with a bonus point win.”

Number eight Conor Gracey got three of the tries with the other two coming from Cutts and Sam Crooks on his full debut.

On the plus front for Saturday, skipper Chris Humphrey is likely to return to action after suffering a bang on the head against Nuneaton three weeks ago.