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England explain Smith over Ford decision and latest Lawes injury
Marcus Smith has won his duel with George Ford for the role of England fly-half understudy to Owen Farrell for the biggest test of the Guinness Six Nations yet. Smith was battling to keep his place on the bench for Saturday’s Twickenham showdown with France but he has been included in a reduced 27-man squad at the expense of his playmaking rival.
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Having started against Scotland in round one and then being limited to brief cameos off the bench for Italy and Wales, he was released to play for Harlequins against Exeter while Ford remained in the England camp.
A man-of-the-match display against the Chiefs on Saturday underlined his star quality and the 80 minutes have been good enough to get him the nod over Ford, who returns to Sale to accumulate more game time as he finds his way back from an Achilles problem.
“George has been wonderful but we just felt that at this moment in time, he is going to need some more minutes at his club,” defence coach Kevin Sinfield said. “George hasn’t been long back in the fold. He has been outstanding and we have no doubt that if he was to stay, he’d be great for us.
“But we think that at this moment in time, the best thing for him is to get minutes at Sale. I thought Marcus was outstanding against Exeter, but he has trained like that over the last six weeks. We have seen first-hand what he’s been capable of and he’s in the mix against France.”
Steve Borthwick names his starting XV on Thursday lunchtime, with Farrell set to continue as starting fly-half and captain. Courtney Lawes will be missing after the Northampton forward was ruled out of the remaining two rounds of the tournament because of a shoulder injury. It extends a miserable run of injuries that has seen Lawes’ season also heavily disrupted by concussion, neck, glute and calf problems.
The 34-year-old only made his England comeback as a final-quarter replacement in the 20-10 victory over Wales in round four but those 12 minutes will be his only game time in this tournament. “We are waiting for the results of a scan, but from what we have been told he will miss the rest of the Six Nations,” Sinfield said.
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“It’s tough for him. To have had Courtney available for the Wales game was great and I know he has gone from injury to injury. That can happen as you get a bit older in your career. You shake one off and you get another one. He is just having a bad run at the minute.
“His influence in camp has been incredible. He has been great in camp. We will miss him at the weekend and hopefully it’s not too long before he is back in the fold.”
Manu Tuilagi has been included in a 27-man training squad that will continue preparations to face the current Grand Slam champions although he is unavailable as he completes a ban for dangerous play. Instead, his role in camp has been to act as an opposition player during training and he will come into contention once again for the climax of the tournament against Ireland.
Wing Max Malins has recovered from an ankle injury that troubled him during last week’s Brighton training camp.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Why 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!
3 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 …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments