The remarkable England XV that Eddie Jones can't pick
England are currently without 320 caps through injury.
It’s a remarkable injury list, and apart from at hooker, Jones can claim to have a full XV of top-tier England internationals that he simply does not have access to.
Jones told RugbyPass last week, “It’s definitely a difficult situation but like every selection there are good players out there. We’ve tried to find the best players who can replace some of the established guys and I think we’ve done that.”
Here’s a ‘missing in action’ England XV made up of players currently unavailable to Jones, be it through injury or ongoing disciplinary bans being served. We’ve cheated at hooker, a bit.
15 Alex Lozowski
Technically, Lozowski could be free to play on Monday, 29 October, after being cited for of entering a ruck dangerously. As it stands he will be available for selection when the first 23 of the series is announced on Tuesday 30th, although the ECPR have appealed a decision to overturn a red card tackle on Ruaridh Jackson in his side’s win over Glasgow Warriors.
14 Anthony Watson
The 24-year-old initially tore his Achille’s tendon in the Six Nations clash with Ireland in March, with a six-month lay-off reportedly expected at the time. But Bath revealed in August that his operation was not a success and he instead re-tore the tendon, with director of rugby Todd Blackadder refusing to put a date on a return.
13 Jonathan Joseph
Jonathan Joseph’s 2017/18 season was ended after the centre suffered an injury to his left foot during the first half of Bath’s 41-6 defeat at Allianz Park in April. Speaking at the time, Bath Director of Rugby, Todd Blackadder, said: “JJ is going to need surgery to correct his injury. He will then need a lengthy period of time to rehabilitate.” Six months on and he is yet to return to the field.
12 Harry Mallinder
Northampton were dealt a massive injury blow this week with confirmation that Harry Mallinder likely to be out for the remainder of the season. Mallinder picked up a ligament injury in Northampton’s 41-20 home defeat to Clermont Auvergne in the European Challenge Cup ten days ago. He’s been on Eddie Jones’ radar – he was selected for the 2017 summer tour to Argentina and was in England’s 6 Nations squad for this 2018 Championship.
11 Marland Yarde
The Sale wing suffered a catastrophic knee injury against Newcastle two weeks ago and will not be back until next season.
Although he seems off the menu for Jones, he won’t be available for selection thanks to an ECPR ban in any case. Even with the sanction being reduced by the maximum allowable of 50 per cent, he still has to serve a three-week suspension. He is free to play on Monday, 12 November 2018, so he will be unavailable for selection for at least two of England’s November Tests.
9 Dan Robson
This month Robson confirmed that he will need surgery on the ankle after being injured against Gloucester and expects to be sidelined until January.
1 Mako Vunipola
The 27-year-old prop, capped 51 times by England, suffered a calf strain in his club’s European Champions Cup loss to Glasgow Warriors on Sunday and Sarries confirmed he will be sidelined for “around six weeks”. As back-up in the injury XV, Ellis Genge is also currently sidelined. Genge suffered by a knee injury and not expected back for some time.
2 Jamie George
Although he suffered a broken nose against Glasgow Warriors, George has been selected by Jones and will be available come England’s first test against South Africa. Thanks Jamie, your availability has spoiled our team.
3 Jake Cooper-Wooley
While he’s yet to win an England cap, at 28-years-old the 6’3, 127kg tighthead is just coming into his prime propping years. He underwent surgery on a bicep rupture sustained during a previousPortugal camp and was given an estimated injury lay-off of six to eight weeks in late August.
4 Joe Launchbury
Wasps captain Joe Launchbury was last week ruled out for 12 weeks after opting for surgery to solve a recurring knee problem. A massive loss of leadership for England and Wasps.
5 Nick Isiekwe
Isiekwe suffered an ankle sprain and was assessed by a consultant, who diagnosed a syndesmosis injury of his ankle. He will miss the whole November Test series.
6 Chris Robshaw
Harlequins recently revealed that Robshaw has had surgery on a knee injury sustained in the 25-20 defeat to Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership two weeks ago.
7 Sam Simmonds
It was announced at the start of the month that Exeter and England looseforward Sam Simmonds is set for at least six months out after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.
8 Billy Vunipola
Vunipola is currently sidelined after suffering a fractured left arm against Glasgow and underwent surgery on Tuesday. The 128kg forward is expected to be out of action for around 12 weeks.
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments