Mako Vunipola set to miss Wales game but Anthony Watson could return for England
England look set to be without Mako Vunipola for another phase of their Guinness Six Nations title push, but Anthony Watson could be available to strengthen the back three.
Vunipola last week travelled to Tonga for family reasons, forcing him to miss the 24-12 demolition of Ireland that has kept Eddie Jones’ World Cup finalists in title contention.
But the powerful loosehead prop is unlikely to return to these shores in time for the penultimate round of the Six Nations against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday week.
Watson, however, will link up with England at their three-day training camp in Oxford if he is able to demonstrate he has recovered from the calf problem that has prevented him from taking part in the championship to date.
England are well stocked for quality looseheads in the shape of Joe Marler and Ellis Genge, making Vunipola’s return less urgent, but Watson can play wing or full-back and would be a valuable reinforcement.
“Mako probably won’t be back for Wales. He’s gone home for family business,” head coach Jones said.
“Anthony’s got to do a running session and if he gets through that we’ll get him into camp.”
England swept aside Ireland in a performance that evoked memories of the victories over Australia and New Zealand that propelled them into last autumn’s World Cup final.
At the heart of the triumph was second row Maro Itoje, who was close to his destructive best having made a quiet start to the Six Nations.
Ireland attempted to rattle him and Jones warned future opponents that they target him at their peril.
“Maro’s been through that and that’s what normally happens with a second year player – they work out what you are good at and then try to take it away from you,” Jones said.
“He’s been through that process and now they can go at him. The more they go at him, the more it distracts them from their game.
“The thing I like about Maro is that he has a real growth mindset, he really wants to keep improving.
“And he sees it as a real important part of his game, not only being that physical, menacing type player but also being a guy that can influence others to play well. That was quite evident against Ireland.
“We see the way he relates to his fellow players, the way he communicates, the way he gets more out of the players around him. We are seeing that more and more.”
While Itoje is growing in stature within England’s leadership group, it is captain Owen Farrell who continues to act as standard bearer.
“We’ve been speaking about the growth of the leadership team. It takes time. Owen is not even two years into the job. Every game he captains, he gets a little bit better,” Jones said.
“It wasn’t about what he did on the field against Ireland, it was about what he did in the lead-up to the game.
“It was outstanding how he led the team in the lead-up to the game and we saw that when the players got on the field. We had great focus.
“He’s learning to be a better captain. Captaincy is hard. He’s doing a great job as captain.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments