Leeds Carnegie 26 Bucharest Oaks 6: Johnson's concern as Fourie suffers calf injury

Fourie – who is in line for a starring role in England's Six Nations campaign – went to ground three times clutching his right calf before eventually leaving the field after 36 minutes.

The initial prognosis from the 31-year-old is that his calf had 'tightened up' with the club adding that the decision to withdraw him from the action was only 'precautionary'.

England team manager Johnson, though, will be understandably worried as his rapidly-improving forward pack is already decimated by injury.

England captain and first-choice openside Lewis Moody, lock Courtney Lawes and back-row Tom Croft have all been ruled out for the majority of the Six Nations, which begin on Friday week in Cardiff when England meet Wales.

Fourie flies out to Portugal with the rest of the squad this morning for a warm-weather training camp and the South Africa-born flanker's first appointment will be with the national team's medical staff.

Fourie said last night: "I feel all right, it was just a little twinge, so we'll see what happens.

"I felt a little tweak in it, maybe just a bit of tightness. It might just have been a bit of scar tissue gone or just maybe a tightening up.

"I should have probably come off a little earlier but I never want to come off, I want to stay on as long as possible.

"Lewis thought his was just a minor injury then he's out for six weeks. You never know until the scan and you've had thorough medical attention.

"Hopefully I'll be fully fit to face Wales."

If the news is bad, then it is not only poor timing for England but also for former Rotherham Titan Fourie, who has made significant strides in the international arena since making his debut against New Zealand two months ago.

He has won four caps, and with Moody out for six weeks with knee ligament damage was next in line to start the tournament in the No 7 shirt.

His outlook was positive at Headingley last night but he will understandably be worried, given that it was an injury to the same calf that forced him to head home early from England's tour to Australia last summer, which postponed his debut until the autumn.

Leeds director of rugby Andy Key last night defended the decision to first of all play Fourie in a dead-rubber and then keep him on after sustaining an injury, stressing that club duty comes first – and in the club's defence, Fourie himself wanted to stay on.

There was better news for Johnson as Fourie's team-mate Steve Thompson successfully negotiated 51 minutes of the defeat of Bucharest unscathed.

As well as Fourie – who along with Thompson is scheduled to be away for eight weeks on international duty, taking them out of four Premiership games including the crucial home game with relegation rivals Newcastle – Leeds also lost No 8 Danny Paul on the half-hour mark with the Yorkshireman carried off with a suspected knee injury.

Despite little riding on the fixture with both teams already eliminated, Leeds were struck with the anxiety usually reserved for their Premiership encounters.

Purposeful when building attacks, they could not finish off their opportunities until minnows Bucharest tired in a stretched second half.

They cheaply allowed the Romanians to force turnover ball and conceded a succession of penalties as the tryline beckoned; all of the problems were caused by poor handling.

Bucharest, though limited, were game and unrelenting in the tackle. They opened up a surprise 6-0 lead when Florin Vlaicu kicked two penalties inside the opening 25 minutes.

Semi Tadulala, afforded a rare start on the wing, finally got the hosts moving on 31 minutes when he crossed in the corner after neat passing from James Tincknell, Warren Fury and Leigh Hinton.

Leeds, though, trailed at the break as Hinton missed the touchline conversion and a long-range penalty. The second half brought a raft of replacements but little increase in urgency. Vlaicu missed a 54th-minute penalty that could have stretched Bucharest's lead before the Premiership strugglers finally took the lead on the hour when a clever offload from James Craig released his second-row partner Marco Wentzel to cross.

Christian Lewis-Pratt converted and within minutes Leeds had their third try when replacement prop Miguel Alonso barrelled over after Luther Burrell had softened up the tiring minnows with an incisive break. Burrell then got a deserved try when he capitalised on a mistake forced by Lewis-Pratt's kick as Leeds signed off a European campaign that means little more than gaining preparation for the Premiership challenges ahead, in relatively unconvincing fashion.

Leeds Carnegie: Hinton, Stephenson (Denton 68), Tincknell, Burrell, Tadulala (MacKay 51), Lewis-Pratt, Fury (Black 68); Hardy (Alonso 30), Thompson (Nilsen 51), Denman (Gomez 56), Craig, Wentzel, To'oala, Fourie (Rowan 36), Paul (Oakley 30).

Bucharest: Botezatu, Nicolae (Minya 40), Cazan, Dascalu, Lemnaru, Vlaicu, Surugiu (Calafeteanu 40); Tamba (Nere 22), Beca, Badalicescu (Maris 47), Popirlan, Drenceanu, Macovei, Lucaci, Carpo (Ianus 51). Unused replacements: Zebega, Burcea, Dumbrava.

Referee: C Damasco (Italy).