Brian Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks, surveyed the wreckage of the club’s squad yesterday and wondered how the club will make it through to the end of the season.

The news that Sililo Martens, the scrum half, requires shoulder reconstruction surgery and will be out until the summer is the latest blow for the Guinness Premiership champions, who are reeling under the weight of an injury list that most clubs would have found impossible to bear.

Twenty-one players are either injured or have recovered from various setbacks, some of them severe. Many have missed large chunks of the season, while others, such as Charlie Hodgson and Jason White, will struggle to be fit for the World Cup in September.

Martens dislocated a shoulder twice during the 20-19 victory over Gloucester on January 6. With Nathan Bonner-Evans, the No 8, scheduled to undergo knee surgery within the next fortnight, the Sharks’ injury list totals 11. With a crucial final pool match in the Heineken Cup on Saturday, Sale are down to the bare bones. Of the 26 fit men registered for Europe, four are hookers.

“We are in a hell of a state — I have never known anything like it,” Kennedy, the businessman whose multimillion-pound investment has transformed the club over the past five years, said. “We have a world-class team out injured. But we have just got to get on with it, not moan and try our best. It has got to the stage, almost, when I will go home tonight and wonder whether I’ll make myself available.”

Kennedy is beginning to wonder whether the club need to reassess their preparation. “You have to start believing there is something going on,” he said. “Is it the way we are training? Are the players just too big and strong? Is there too much pressure on the joints? It may be we will have to start looking at the way we are doing things.”

Given their plight, it is remarkable that Sale are only 80 minutes away from a possible Heineken Cup quarter-final, are in the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup and are handily placed in fifth in the Premiership. In Jason Robinson’s opinion, it is testament to the spirit and resolve at the club who were once seen as a soft touch. No longer.

“With an injury list like ours, many clubs would have thrown in the towel,” the England threequarter said. “But where we are, it makes you realise what a massive achievement the players have managed this year.”

Robinson, the captain, who has been recalled by England for the RBS Six Nations Championship after reversing his decision to retire from international rugby, has escaped misfortune. But there has been a price to pay. He has played in 19 matches this season, including all five over Christmas, and is almost out on his feet with fatigue. He will lead Sale in Saturday’s match at home to the Ospreys, with both clubs needing a bonus-point win to stand a chance of reaching the last eight.

Having shuffled his thin resources and rested some players against Calvisano last week, Philippe Saint-Andre is at least able to recall Sébastien Chabal, Magnus Lund, Stuart Turner and Dean Schofield.

While Sale are struggling with so many injuries, a bullish Lawrence Dallaglio has suggested that the present London Wasps team are the best he has played in as they prepare for their crunch Heineken Cup match away to Castres on Saturday.

“For the first time in a long time we’ve had a dominant scrum, a dominant lineout and a dominant defensive display, and put those three things together and you tend to get a dominant performance. That’s not something that even when we won the competition [in 2004] we were able to achieve,” the Wasps captain said.

Wasps are likely to make two changes to the team who beat Perpignan 22-14 at home on Saturday. Fraser Waters will come in at centre and Josh Lewsey will shift to the wing for Paul Sackey, who injured a knee. Tom Rees seems certain to replace Jonny O’Connor at open-side flanker. Daniel Cipriani, 19, retains his place at full back despite the return of Mark van Gisbergen, after his wedding in New Zealand.

Not for sale

The injury list

Nathan Bonner-Evans (No 8), knee; John Bryant (centre), calf; John Carter (flanker), shoulder; Mark Cueto (wing), calf; Ignacio Fernández Lobbe (lock), hamstring; Charlie Hodgson (fly half, pictured), knee; Sililo Martens (scrum half), shoulder; Elvis Seveali’i (centre), shoulder; Andrew Sheridan (prop), ankle; Lee Thomas (centre), arm; Jason White (flanker), knee

Injured this season

Chris Bell (centre), thumb; David Blair (fly half), back; Sébastien Bruno (hooker), spine; Chris Day (lock), knee; Lionel Fauré (prop), leg; Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (flanker), chest; Eifion Roberts (prop), knee; Dean Schofield (lock), shoulder; David Tait (back row), leg; Andy Titterrell (hooker), neck