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Chris Ashton has been ruled out of England’s match against Australia on Saturday with a calf injury.
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Ashton came off the bench to make his first England outing in four years in the victory over South Africa at the beginning of the month, before starting the New Zealand and Japan fixtures and scoring a try against the All Blacks.
But the Sale Sharks wing was replaced due to injury against the Brave Blossoms and is now set to miss two weeks of action.
“Chris came off with an injury on Saturday,” said forwards coach Steve Borthwick. “We investigated the injury and unfortunately he’s going to miss a couple of weeks, which means he’s clearly unavailable for our game this weekend. He’ll return home later today.
“It’s only a couple of weeks. It’s frustrating. I’m disappointed for him, disappointed for us.
“It’s great the work he’s done in camp over the last few weeks but hopefully he’ll be back on the field very soon.”
Borthwick gave the squad an otherwise clean bill of health, with Joe Cokanasiga, who scored a try on debut against Japan, working towards full involvement in training.
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“Joe Cokanasiga didn’t train with the team today, he trained on his own programme, which is just part of the individual management that we have,” added Borthwick.
“But he’s fully fit and available for the weekend.”
Nathan Hughes is back in the squad following the completion of a six-week ban for punching Gloucester flanker Lewis Ludlow and questioning his punishment on social media.
“Nathan’s done well since coming back into camp,” said Borthwick. “He trained on Friday, trained again Sunday and trained with the team the last couple of days, doing really well. He’s in good shape.
“I think he’s worked really hard on his conditioning. Clearly you’ve got to prepare as well as you possibly can in those circumstances.
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“You actually make improvements in lots of areas when you have that opportunity to train like that. And I think Nathan’s worked really hard in this period he’s had off.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
20 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
20 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
20 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
20 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to commentsThanks for the article, Nick. The Nienaber blitz D does ask a lot of its scrumhalf. I have been watching JGP on D and he often looks like he has mastered what Nienaber asks for better than Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach! 🤣 Impressive season by JGP if I must make an understatement.
22 Go to commentsOkay last one. I promise. I think it’s despicable for Andy Goode to suggest that Eben can’t count to 12. To be fair he only had to count to 8 - the number of Irishmen who DIDN’T say that. Less the 3 kiwis of course. 23 - 12 - 3 = 8. See Joe. I can do maffs.
20 Go to commentsCheers, Nick! How do you see the Reds’ Jock Campbell’s play this year? Not as strong a carrier as Andrew Kellaway or Tom Wright, but does avoid errors. Do you see Joe Schmidt as wanting safety first at 15 or a try-assisting counterattacker?
85 Go to commentsI’m sure this was all just a big misunderstanding. Irishmen and Afrikaaners conversing in a noisey stadium. Not easy to get the right messages across. A minefield.
20 Go to commentsSay what you will about Andy Goode. But he is right about one thing… I’m not sure what that one thing is exactly… but I’m willing to hear him out.
20 Go to commentsAnother article to bait and trigger Irish fans. This must stop.
20 Go to commentsHi Nick. Thanks for your +++ ongoing analysis. Re Vunivalu, He’s been benched recently and it will be interesting to see what Kiss does with him as we enter the backend of SRP. I’m still not sold.
85 Go to commentsIn the fine tradition of Irish rugby, Leinster cheat well and for some reason only known to whoever referees them, they are allowed to get away with it every single game. If teams have not got the physicality up front to stop them getting the ball, they will win every single game. They take out players beyond the ruck and often hold them on the ground. Those that are beyond the ruck and therefore offside, hover there to cause distraction but also to join the next ruck from the side thereby stopping the jackal. The lineout prior to the second try on Saturday. 3 Leinster players left the lineout before the ball was thrown and were driving the maul as soon as the player hit the ground and thereby getting that valuable momentum. They scrummage illegally, with the looshead turning in to stop the opposing tighthead from pushing straight and making it uncomfortable for the hooker. The tighthead takes a step and tries to get his opposite loosehead to drop the bind. Flankers often ‘move up’ and actually bind on the prop and not remain bound to the second row. It does cause chaos and is done quickly and efficiently so that referees are blinded by the illegal tactics. I am surprised opposition coaches when they meet referees before games don’t mention it. I am also surprised that they do not go to the referees group and ask them to look at the tactics used and referee them properly. If they are the better team and win, fair play but a lot of their momentum is gained illegally and therefore it is not a level playing field.
1 Go to commentsI’d be fascinated to see what other candidates you all might have for the Lions captaincy role. Let me know, below 👍
3 Go to comments“ planning for the next cycle….” Sigh ill-advised language Elton old juice bean. Ppersonally glad you self-eliminated yourself, there were better players in the position around you.
4 Go to commentsRegardless of best in world etc. Lawes was outstanding against Leinster and has been all season. Looked like three try saving turnovers. His turnovers also contributed to NH scores. Immense performance.
2 Go to commentsDickson now considered the top ref in England it appears. Good that these series are getting one NH and one SH ref.
2 Go to comments