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Big blow for England as Bath confirm a major Sam Underhill setback

Bath's Sam Underhill at Northampton last Sunday (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

England boss Steve Borthwick has been handed a huge Guinness Six Nations headache following Friday’s injury update from Bath on Sam Underhill. The 28-year-old was a starter in his country’s two most recent matches, the Autumn Nations Series fixtures versus South Africa and Japan.

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Named at openside for last year’s entire five-match Six Nations campaign and for the three-game summer trip to Japan and New Zealand, Underhill had returned to the Test side having missed the series-opening games in November against the All Blacks and Australia due to a delayed start to the 2024/25 club season caused by an an ankle operation after a tour injury with England.

Underhill has since played off the bench in Bath’s three most recent Gallagher Premiership fixtures, including last Sunday’s last-gasp defeat at Northampton, but he now faces a significant layoff – which includes missing the Six Nations campaign with England which starts away to Ireland on February 1.

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Borthwick is due to name his squad for the tournament next Tuesday in London, but the 40-cap Underhill – along with Exeter’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (dislocated shoulder) and Northampton’s George Furbank (broken arm) – will be marked absent following Bath’s latest medical bulletin.

“Sam Underhill will undergo surgery to rectify a new ankle injury suffered in the round 10 Premiership game against Northampton. There is no set timeframe on his recovery,” read the update on the Bath website.

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Other club injuries were also mentioned. “Will Muir and Guy Pepper have both begun their rehabilitation process following injuries sustained against Saints. Both will be unavailable for the remainder of January. Cam Redpath is being monitored week-to-week on a leg injured sustained against Saracens in round nine of the Premiership.”

Bath’s XV for this Sunday’s Investec Champions Cup match at home to Clermont shows five changes from the trip to Franklin’s Gardens. Thomas du Toit, Charlie Ewels, Ted Hill, Tom de Glanville and Ruaridh McConnochie have all been named to start.

BATH: 15. Tom de Glanville; 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Max Ojomoh, 11. Ruaridh McConnochie; 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben Spencer (capt), 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Thomas du Toit, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Ted Hill, 7. Miles Reid, 8. Alfie Barbeary.  Reps: 16. Niall Annett, 17. Francois van Wyk, 18. Will Stuart, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. Louis Schreuder, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Ethan Staddon.

CLERMONT: 15. Alex Newsome; 14. Bautista Delguy, 13. Pierre Fouyssac, 12. Irae Simone, 11. Lucas Tauzin; 10. Anthony Belleau, 9. Baptiste Jauneau; 1. Giorgi Akhaladze, 2. Folau Fainga’a, 3. Regis Montagne, 4. Rob Simmons, 5. Peceli Yato, 6. Killian Tixeront, 7. Marcos Kremer, 8. Fritz Lee (capt). Reps: 16. Etienne Fourcade, 17. Sacha Lotrian, 18. Michael Ala’alatoa, 19. Thomas Ceyte, 20. Oskar Rixen, 21. Sebastien Bezy, 22. Theo Giral, 23. Alivereti Raka.

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Comments

2 Comments
L
LE 5 days ago

Was he rushed back by Bath? Should have been centrally contracted by England to manage his return to play

B
Bob Salad II 5 days ago

Urghh. Disappointing as Underhill would’ve been the first name on my England team sheet. It does perhaps open the door for Earl to slip in a 7 with you-know-who starting at 8.

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J
JW 6 hours ago
Six former All Blacks eligible for new nations in 2025

He wasn't, he was only there a couple of years. Don't get me wrong, he's a player of promise, but without ever having a season at 10 at that level, one could hardly ever think he would be in line to take over.


But if you really want to look at your question deeper, we get to that much fabled "production line" of the Crusaders. I predict you'll know what I mean when I say, Waikato, Waikato, Queensland.


I don't know everything about him (or his area I mean) but sure, it wouldnt have just been Razor that invested in him, and that's not to say he's the only 10 to have come out of that academy in the last half dozen years/decade since Mo'unga, but he is probably the best. So it's a matter of there having been no one else why it was so easy for people to picture him being razors heir apparent (no doubt he holds him in more high regard than the blurb/reference of his recently published though). And in general there is very much a no paching policy at that level which you may not appreciate .


For England? Really? That's interesting. I had just assumed he was viewed as club man and that national aspect was just used to entice him over. I mean he could stil be used by Scotland given I wouldn't expect them to have a whole lot of depth even thoe fh's one of their strongest positions at the moment. But certainly not England.


Personally I still think that far more likely was the reason. He would/could have done the same for Crusaders and NZ, just without half as much in his pocket. And as an individual I certainly don't think he'd have chosen England over the All Blacks (as a tru blue kiwi i mean), and he of all people should know where he sits. He said he wants to play internationally, so I take that at face value, he didn't think that could be for NZ, and he might have underestimated (or been mislead by McCall) England (and Scotland really), or have already chosen Scotland at the time, as seems the case from talk of his addition.


Again though, he's a player who I'd happily rate outside the trifecta of Barrett/McKenzie/Mo'unga in basic ability , even on par with foreign players like Plummer, Sopoaga, Ioane, and ahead of a bunch in his era like Falcon, Trask, Reihana. I've done the same thing >.< excluding Perofeta from the 10 debate. Hes probably below him but I think pero is a 15 now.

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