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England’s plans for their final assault on the Six Nations title against Italy in Rome have been disrupted by injuries to George Ford and Elliot Daly that could result in a first cap for Jacob Umaga. Eddie Jones has confirmed that Ford and Daly will miss the Stadio Olimpico showdown because of respective Achilles and shin problems requiring another two weeks of rehabilitation.
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Ford’s absence points to captain Owen Farrell starting at fly-half for the first time since the World Cup quarter-final rout of Australia a year ago having played the last six Tests at inside centre.
As the only other 10 picked in a 36-man squad for the autumn, 22-year-old Wasps sensation Umaga – nephew of former All Blacks skipper Tana – could make his debut off the bench a week after appearing in the Gallagher Premiership final.
“Jacob is a young guy at 10 who attacks the line and has plenty of courage in the way he plays. He’s a solid defender and is one of the reasons why Wasps did so well,” Jones said.
“We had him in camp earlier in this Six Nations and we were impressed by what he did, so we’re looking forward to working with him again.”
The squad ?
Eddie has named a 36 player squad ahead of five huge matches starting with this Saturday's @SixNationsRugby final round against Italy ?#WearTheRose #QuilterInternationals
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 26, 2020
Jack Willis is present following a blockbusting season in which he emerged as one of the Premiership’s most influential players through his breakdown expertise, which he compliments with impressive power in defence and in the carry.
The 23-year-old was due to tour South Africa in 2018 but was forced to withdraw from Jones’ squad with a knee injury before his development was further hindered by an ankle problem. “Jack’s been someone we’ve had on the radar for a long time, since 2018. We selected him for the South Africa tour but he was injured,” Jones said.
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“We’ve been watching his progress and he’s a good, jumping number six who carries well and contests hard. He has a good work attitude about him. He’s a really old fashioned number six, so we’re looking forward to working with him.”
Jones has defended the omission from his autumn squad of Sam and Joe Simmonds, who have been instrumental to Exeter’s rise as double winners. Sam, an athletic number eight, has been crowned European player of the year while younger brother Joe has been outstanding as captain and chief playmaker, earning rave reviews.
“I’ve spoken to both of those boys to make sure they have an understanding of the situation,” Jones said. “Ultimately selection is a judgement situation. There are people out there who think certain players should be in and people who think certain players shouldn’t be. It’s my judgement call with the coaches.
“We do due diligence – I’ve done about 8,000 miles over the last three months going to watch players live, watching what they do in the warm-up, watching every bit of play and we’ve come to the decision that this is the best 36. There are a number of good players out there who will be massively disappointed and they are two of them.”
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England have been bolstered by the availability of seven players who took part in a captivating climax to the domestic season at Twickenham when Exeter beat Wasps 19-13, including Willis, Umaga and Henry Slade.
Completing the list are Exeter tight five forwards Jonny Hill and Harry Williams and Wasps lock Joe Launchbury and scrum-half Dan Robson. Also present for the first time since the World Cup is Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga, whose season has been hindered by a serious knee injury.
England have reported a number of fresh injuries in hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, wing Ali Crossdale and flanker Mark Wilson. England’s preparations have been undermined by the cancellation of Sunday’s warm-up game against the Barbarians after a number of the invitational club’s players breached coronavirus regulations.
“I’ve been around a while so I just accepted it and quickly went up to my room and worked out a Plan B. I didn’t get involved in the emotion of what happened,” Jones said.
“We are pretty good at these things – we had the same situation with the typhoon in Japan (that saw England’s World Cup pool match against France called off) so we moved on. This time it was just a bit of a different typhoon.”
That's just over 8 per cent of the squad for the double winners then…https://t.co/FoJxupDUId
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
What a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
2 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
2 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to comments