Northern | US

Brad Shields' injury opens door for uncapped Alex Dombrandt to get England call


Alex Dombrandt was one of the finds of the 2018/19 season. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Comments
Comment

Harlequins’ Alex Dombrandt will fly out to Italy to join the England squad on Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The uncapped back row will replace Wasps’ Brad Shields, who returns home after picking up a foot ligament injury. Shields will undergo further assessment in England to understand the extent of the injury.

The switch is a blow for head coach Eddie Jones who named a 38-strong training squad on Monday prior to flying out that day to Treviso for a warm-weather camp that will last until August 2.  

Bath’s Sam Underhill and Anthony Watson travelled with the squad after spending last week doing specialised strength and conditioning work separately off-site while Joe Marchant (Harlequins) joined the group for the first time.

Jones said: “Treviso is a hard yards camp with conditions similar to Tokyo. Team training will be about being adaptable and off the field enjoying each other’s company.”

On squad selection, Jones added: “Selection is absolutely challenging, we have left some good players doing work at their clubs and they must be ready if called up.”

England will play Wales (August 11) and Ireland (August 24) at Twickenham Stadium and Italy (September 6) in Newcastle as well as an away fixture against Wales (August 17) in Cardiff.

ADVERTISEMENT

Forwards

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 85 caps)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 11 caps)

Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 10 caps)

Alex Dombrant (Harlequins, uncapped)

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)

Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 9 caps)

Jamie George (Saracens, 37 caps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens, 27 caps)

George Kruis (Saracens, 32 caps)

Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 58 caps)

Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 71 caps)

Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, uncapped)

Joe Marler (Harlequins, 59 caps)

Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 22 caps)

Jack Singleton (Saracens, uncapped)

Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 9 caps)

ADVERTISEMENT

Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 41 caps)

Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 53 caps)

Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)

Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons/Sale Sharks, 13 caps)

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins, 72 caps)

Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)

Elliot Daly (Saracens, 30 caps)

Owen Farrell (Saracens, 70 caps)

George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 55 caps)

Piers Francis (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)

Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)

Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 40 caps)

Joe Marchant (Harlequins, uncapped)

Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 45 caps)

Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath Rugby, uncapped)

Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 33 caps)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 22 caps)

Ben Spencer (Saracens, 3 caps)

Ben Te’o (unattached, 18 caps)

Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 32 caps)

Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 33 caps)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 85 caps)

WATCH: The latest RugbyPass documentary, Foden – Stateside, looks at how ex-England international Ben Foden is settling into Major League Rugby in New York

Video Spacer

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 35 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

14 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close