Southend Rugby Club's Sonny Gay set for shock return against Taunton Titans (From Echo)

Southend Rugby Club's Sonny Gay set for shock return against Taunton Titans

7:00am Friday 5th October 2012 in Sport By Chris Phillips

SONNY Gay could be a shock inclusion in the Southend squad for tomorrow’s game with Taunton Titans.

Gay suffered a serious shoulder injury during pre-season and had been expected to miss at least six months of the season.

But the Seasiders’ director of rugby Chris Green has revealed the centre could be back on the bench this weekend.

“We’ve had a chat with the specialist and we’ve been told Sonny’s shoulder injury can’t be made worse by him playing,” said Green.

“With that in mind he could well be on the bench for us this weekend and if that happens it would be give us a huge boost.

“Sonny’s a big player for us and it was a huge blow when he picked up the injury.

“He will still need an operation and when he has that he will be out of action for quite some time.

“We will get him out as quickly as we can but until the operation it would make sense to try and use him and that’s certainly in our thinking at the moment.”

Gay has not figured for Southend so far this season and his side have made a mixed start to the new campaign.

The Seasiders sit 10th in the National Two South table having won two of their five games this term.

And Green is demanding another victory this weekend.

“We need to win tomorrow and if we do then it will represent a good start to the season for us,” said Green.

“I’m sure we can do it and I’m more confident than I have been at any stage this year because we’re improving all the time.

“At Clifton last weekend we looked very dangerous with the ball and could have scored more than the four tries we got on the day.

“Our set piece was poor and we had a poor spell at the start of the second half when we conceded around two thirds of their points and you just can’t afford to do that at this level.

“You have to remain focused but providing we can do that I think we can win this weekend.”

Taunton are currently third from bottom in the table and have triumphed just once in their five games so far.

And, as Southend look to pile on more misery on their visitors, prop Luke Irvine is pushing for a place in the starting line-up.