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England explain Lawes' absence from Saturday's RWC capping ceremony
Richard Wigglesworth has suggested that Steve Borthwick will have a full squad to choose from – bar the suspended Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola – when he names his England team for next Saturday’s Rugby World Cup opener versus Argentina in Marseille.
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The under-fire English squad have arrived in France following their miserable Summer Nations Series featuring injuries, suspensions and worrying defeats.
Tom Curry (ankle) didn’t feature at all across the four-match August programme, but assistant coach Wigglesworth suggested that the back row should be in the selection mix to face the Pumas as will Courtney Lawes, the stand-in captain versus Ireland and Fiji for the suspended Farrell.
Lawes was marked absent from Saturday’s World Cup capping ceremony in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, getting told to rest up back at the team hotel rather than attend the hour-long function at the nearby Palais des Congres.
“Training update is a few little bumps and bruises, but I think we will go into next weekend with a pretty full bill of health and everyone to choose from,” began Wigglesworth, who was giving his team’s first media briefing since last weekend’s 22-30 ambush by Fiji at Twickenham.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ?
– Steve Borthwick was busy working on the England maul at Friday's open training session in Touquet. It was their first time on the pitch after arrival in France on Thursday for Rugby World Cup 2023. #RWC2023 #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/vMKWiepgII
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 1, 2023
Asked about Curry’s status following his month-long unavailability, Wigglesworth added: “Yeah, he should be good to go. Hopefully, everyone is going to be ready. Not everyone has done everything yet and until they have you don’t know, but we think we should be good going in.”
The verdict on Lawes was: “He is a bit sore from training yesterday [Friday] so we thought the best thing for him was to not sit in a chair for an hour or so and then having to stand about and stuff so he is just resting in the hotel, just a little bit sore from the training yesterday. The pitch was quite heavy just because of all the rain. Nothing too serious, just looking after him.”
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England flew into the Hauts-des-France region on Thursday and will spend seven nights in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage before flying south on Thursday to Marseille ahead of their World Cup opener.
Their reputation has been dented heading into the tournament due to the loss of five of their last six matches and six defeats in nine outings under rookie Test-level boss Borthwick.
However, Wigglesworth insisted things will get better and that steps were being taken to ensure that improvements happen. “The players were superb yesterday,” he suggested, referencing their first pitch training session in France.
“An open training session with that many people watching underlines that this is what we are here to do now. They got stuck into it yesterday, some difficult conditions, but we are delighted.
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“We know we need to improve, there are a few things we have got to get right. The lads the last two days have been getting into that. We’re confident we are going to improve and we will give a good account of ourselves.”
Have the players been given more of a voice regarding the preparations given the recent run of troubling results? “No,” vouched the assistant who started working with England in June after finishing up his role as interim Leicester boss following the Welford Road departure last December of Borthwick to take over the England job from Eddie Jones.
WATCH: The fright one England player had when the fireworks started in Le Touquet Paris-Plage on Saturday… #EnglandRugby #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/ZcBTlSik4U
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 2, 2023
“We had to put some stuff in place when putting a new team together but I don’t think there has ever been a situation where we haven’t particularly (had to change). From my point of view, how my relationship is with those lads, I have been close to a lot of them so have been in constant dialogue with them.”
Asked about the public negativity surrounding England, Wigglesworth added: “Well, you are assuming that it is going through. If you are (referring to something) inside the group then you know something I don’t. You filter the noise however it is…
“We know where we want to go as a team, we know how hard we are working. Lads have been first class. Yeah, you are probably plucking at things that are hearsay and what may be not true so I wouldn’t like to comment on them.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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