17 - 13

19 - 35

31 - 14

22 - 24

16 - 15

34 - 16

23 - 21

26 - 27

48 - 24

8 - 7

24 - 19

40 - 12

25 - 20

33 - 43

30 - 27

24 - 10

38 - 15

15 - 10

41 - 12

13 - 13

41 - 17

42 - 21

68 - 13

15 - 15

21 - 7

21 - 10

26 - 31

LIVE

40'

Six Nations

Steve Borthwick suffers second major injury blow as England squad updated

By Ian Cameron

2 hours ago

With Ollie Lawrence fit, Steve Borthwick maybe tempted to add his ballast to midfield (Photo Warren Little/Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick will once again be without Bath centre Ollie Lawrence after the RFU issued a squad update on Sunday evening.

Lawrence is listed as having been sent back to Bath for rehabilitation, despite having only just returned to the England set-up following injury. The former Worcester centre was a doubt for the trip to the Stadio Olimpico after receiving a knee injection during the week.

Curiously, there is no call-up for Bath teammate Max Ojomoh.

Ojomoh was handed his third start at fly-half this season as Bath hosted Gloucester in the PREM Cup over the weekend. The natural centre previously featured at 10 in wins over Harlequins and Sale Sharks.

VIDEO

Seb Atkinson, who played 50 minutes for Gloucester in the PREM Cup at the RFU’s behest this weekend, could be in the race to replace Lawrence. One of Tommy Freeman or Henry Slade could also fill the role.

Earlier in the week, it was confirmed that scrum-half Alex Mitchell would miss the remainder of the Guinness Six Nations after suffering a hamstring injury in the same game.

Mitchell was forced off after 24 minutes. Jack van Poortvliet, who came on for him against Ireland, is in line to start in Rome, while Raffi Quirke has been drafted into the squad as cover.

“Alex has been scanned and seen the relevant specialists,” Borthwick said. “He’ll be out for a number of weeks, unfortunately, so won’t feature in the remainder of this championship.”

Forwards:
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
George Kloska (Bristol Bears)
Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)

Backs:
Henry Arundell (Bath Rugby)
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)

LIVE

Comments

7 Comments

unknown 5 mins ago

Not a single proper number 8 in the squad! Where’s Fisilau? Ben Earl isn’t even the best no 8 at Saracens. Barbeary doesn’t get a look in. There’s a distinct lack of big ball carriers in that backrow with Cunningham-South the only one capable of delivering that. The 5x7 tactic isn’t working. Scotland and Ireland dominated us at the breakdown. For having 5x7 we offer less jackaling threat than Scotland, Ireland and France

unknown 23 mins ago

It’s very depressing but I’m not surprised. Borthwick ignores Prem form regularly. After his performance against Argentina in the autumn, Ojomoh has been poorly treated. It’s another example of Borthwick’s terrible man management. I have little faith that the selection issues will be addressed nor the preparation issues. I fear a first ever loss to Italy will happen on Saturday followed by a thrashing at the hands of France in Paris. Maybe then the RFU will end the tenure of Borthwick but again I’m not convinced as incompetence seems to be rife within the RFU

unknown 1 hr ago

How can Kenningham (who’s a good player for Quins) be selected ahead of Ethan Roots .. who’s an absolute monster week on week!!?

Also, no Ojomoh .. no Calouri .. no Touipoutou .. no Ted Hill ..

All this means no go forward .. no ambition .. and no imagination (on the part of the coaches)!!

unknown 16 mins ago

Kenningham and Roots made a good combination for England A. Roots is hard done by but there are many others such as Barbeary, Oghre, Ojomoh, Hendy, Caluori, Bamber, and Batley. Borthwick has no clue, and is so far out of his depth it’s staggering. His rugby vision, selection, preparation, man management and interviews are all terrible. Italy will come out with passion and desire and England will probably look stunned by it and offer a feeble resistance

PMcD 2 hours ago

Hardly inspiring, no Caluori, no Hendy, no other hookers etc to improve the carries.

I have a feeling there will be very little change from previous teams but we will simply go back to the kicking game.

It may claw out better results for these next 2 games but there is no way we will win a RWC playing Borthball with Fordy.

It’s all mildly depressing and is s wasted opportunity.

unknown 11 mins ago

Agreed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he names the team that played against Wales. They may luckily sneak past Italy but it will only serve to paper over the cracks. England won’t win a thing, not so much as a triple crown with Borthwick in charge

AD 27 mins ago

So true. Stressful watching England too. A few years ago my 16 yr old had a pneumothorax. Ended up having surgery and making full recovery. Surgeon said they were more common, 10% I think, if you were taller/thinner/and had UK ancestry. I’ve been saying since it’s due to all the frustration watching England sports teams, including the rugby team. All that shouting, “What are we doing?”

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!