Worse still, one of Powell's potential replacements was Matthew Mills who went off injured in Monday's reseve game. This would have left Saints defence looking seriously stretched, particularly if Michael Svensson was unable to play three games in a week after his return from an 18 month injury lay-off.
In contrast to Saints' form last season, the defence has been a rock while it has been the attack that has continued to misfire. With Mills, Lundekvam and Powell as potential absentees, the alarm bells were ringing ahead of Saturday's game against Hull.
If Lundekvam can prove his fitness this should see only one change in the defence with the Norwegian replacing Powell, which could even strengthen the defence if Svensson and Lundekvam can pick up where they left off two seasons ago when they formed one of the Premierships best defensive units.