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England squad update: Harry Randall among four players released

By Liam Heagney
England's Harry Randall (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick has cut four players from his Guinness Six Nations squad for next Saturday’s round three match in Scotland, releasing them for A team duty on Sunday versus Portugal in Leicester.

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The England head coach had confirmed that a squad of 36 on Sunday evening would meet for two days of senior team training at Pennyhill Park, including Harry Randall for the injured No9 Alex Mitchell and the fit-again midfielder Ollie Lawrence at the expense of his uncapped Bath teammate Will Muir.

However, while Lawrence has been kept on ahead of Thursday’s team announcement for the championship game in Edinburgh, Randall’s stay at Pennyhill was short-lived.

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He will now reroute to George Skivington’s A team at Loughborough University ahead of England’s first match at that level since the 2016 Saxons tour to South Africa.

The decision means that Danny Care and Ben Spencer will be the two scrum-halves named in Borthwick’s match day 23 to face Scotland following the knee injury suffered by the first-choice Mitchell.

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Also joining Randall in the switch from Pennyhill to Loughborough will be Charlie Ewels, Joe Heyes and Max Ojomoh, as they have also been released for A team duty following first-team training.

Randall had originally been named in the squad of 27 last Thursday for the A game, but the emergence of Mitchell’s injury saw the Bristol No9 start his week with Borthwick’s first-team squad.

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The further addition to the A squad of the already Borthwick-omitted Muir will increase the number of players Skivington now has with him for the Mattioli Woods Welford Road fixture to 31.

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T
TT 8 minutes ago
Springboks reclaim Freedom Cup in titanic All Blacks clash

Best team won ... again. 


At least the ref was very communicative & not trigger happy like last week. Some clearly wrong tackler/ruck calls. & Lomax yellow, FACT OF RULES IS a player has to change direction for that infringement. Lomax's feet didn't even move off his spot before Kolbe RAN, AT ANGLE, INTO HIM. NOR any Lomax arms for a classic clothesline. REwatch, blind if can't see it.

 

None of those wrong ref calls would have changed the result. Best team won.

 

Wake up Mr Razor & gang. Actually in fairness to Foster... Mr 50% [Fiji doesn't count] Razor. 


FORWARDS fine, except desperately need SR star SOTUTU. 


BACKLINE 3rd rate. NZ back stocks fantastic but Razor & gang asleep.  Changes needed, actually was needed pre-SAf, 


TJ, Reece GONE!

 

Reece?I was his biggest fan, BUT... Low impact & shouldhave been awarded SAf last try. Defensive vague out & didn’t even yell for obviously needed support on the blind. Lost the test . + a few other errors after similar in previous tests.

 

TJ? Ratima going fine. But Razor replaces him with Mr Shouty, TJ. STILL repeatedly warned be ref to shut it! Nothing professional about him.

 

Too late now Mr50% but need, AT LEAST [CONSERVATIVELY ]; 


{starting} 


9 {Ratima}/ Christie (ie waiting on Roigard!) 

10 {D.McKenzie }/ Plummer 

12 {J.Barrett}/ ALB 

13 {Proctor} ( backup R. Ioane) 

14 {Narawa}/ R. Ioane 

11 {C.Clarke} / Tele’a 

15 {W.Jordan} (backup J.Barrett) 

130 Go to comments
H
Hellhound 35 minutes ago
Scott Robertson reflects on the All Blacks’ Freedom Cup loss to Springboks

Razor was untouchable in a club competition that favours the AB's with no real competition. The Crusaders has been the main feeding trough for the ABs for a long time. Easier to stay strong and win against weaker club teams like Super Rugby Pacific. A great club coach doesn't make for a winning test coach. Rassie took over a Bok team that got flogged by everyone. He changed them around and created a winning team and culture. Razor took over a team that barely lost in a WC final. Massive difference between the 2 coaches and teams during transition phases. The question have to be asked...Is the problems in NZ rugby deeper than the team? Are they growing weaker due to coaching or competition? This 2 tests the AB's had it but lost it against a team that is swapping and changing continuesly. Changing that many players, no matter how good they are, you lose a lot of little things. In attack the Boks struggle to gel, they play in short bursts and currently is a team who rescue themselves through sheer power or broken play. Their mental strength is one of the biggest changes in the team. They find a way to win. They believe that they are the best but they are not letting it make them complacent. They know they are hard to beat and at any given day can lose. They are not the polished product and far from reaching their end goal. Rassie keeps shifting the goal posts. Making it harder for every player to keep their spot on the team. Fozzie was seen as the worst AB's coach, but he got them to the WC final. The NZRU would have been very happy that the AB's lost that final. What would it have looked like if they fired a coach they mocked, gave a hard time and fired long before the WC, if he won the WC? They are not good at their jobs. Just like with the Aussie board, this NZ board is failing upwards. How long before the AB's become the Wallabies? The players are trying hard, but they can do only so much. Razor is a coach of habit. He has his favourites. Is the current AB's team the best players in each position in the country? Or is there better players that don't get a look in? These players are not bad. The best though? Imagine what an Aki Bundee would have been able to do, and other players the AB's throw away for fun. Now they gain residency and play for other countries or go back to their Island nations and play for them. No matter how I look at it, NZ rugby is going backwards. I don't blame the players. NZ still produce world class players, but a lot of questions is left to answer. More than just a losing team. Razor should not have walked in as head coach. He should have been assistant to learn the ropes of international rugby. There is a vast difference between club and international rugby. Is the NZRU setting up Razor to fail?

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Springboks | The Rugby Championship

Yeah he might, I only saw the one angle where it looked cheek on cheek, and I didn't see what you're referring to today at all. Did either incident change the play SB, did they have any affect on the game?


Um, I don't think you're right in that 'fact' about foul play SB. I just sounds like the typical moaning SA fans did after Sam Cane's red in the world cup final, after there own captain had done the same or worse, taken out Frenchmen the previous game, and lost domestic titles due to their own nations offences. Don't you think it is hypocritical to talk about New Zealanders? Or is that in fact why you are trying to put Kiwi's in the same boat as others?


I would venture you've fallen into the media hole. It's easy to look at things like number of cards in isolation, for someone to cherry pick data and others to swallow it whole. I would need to do some research to see a problem developing with NZ rugby.


To me, on the surface without digging into it, they have mostly felt hard done by, so I'd suggest to anyone that they simply haven't adapted to the changing laws rather than having changed (their rugby style) themselves. I think if you did look you would find all sanctions were mitigated down to the most minimal suspensions possible. The only bad act I recall was Sonny-Bill Williams in Lions 2 with his league tackle. For him, it would just go down into the 'stupid' category.


So if you don't wont to look stupid throwing around the word 'fact', you should at least be able to back it up when you do try it ;)

41 Go to comments
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