England are considering entrusting their No7 jersey to either Maro Itoje or Chris Robshaw on Saturday in place of Bath’s Sam Underhill, who has been ruled out with concussion. The head coach, Eddie Jones, has previously said he does not see Robshaw as an openside flanker but is running out of specialists before the Test with Samoa on Saturday.
With Underhill stood down after he sustained his second concussion of the autumn, Tom Curry out having dislocated a wrist in training this month and James Haskell exiled from the squad, the other openside candidate currently in Bagshot is Exeter’s Sam Simmonds.
The two main names flagged up by Jones, though, were Itoje and Robshaw, who were first paired in an England back row during the third Test against Australia in Sydney in June 2016. England won that contest 44-40 but Robshaw was replaced in the third quarter by Jack Clifford in a game during which Teimana Harrison was also hauled off after half an hour.
Itoje was subsequently viewed as a strong candidate to start at No7 last autumn only to fracture a hand and miss all of England’s November Tests, offering an unexpected recall to Northampton’s Tom Wood.
With other alternatives such as Wasps’ Sam Jones ruled out by injury and Exeter’s Don Armand still studiously ignored, Jones had been hoping Underhill would nail down the position and establish himself as a regular starter. Unfortunately for all, the 21-year-old had to be replaced inside the first quarter against Australia, having hurt himself tackling the Australian No8 Sean McMahon. He was also concussed playing for Bath against Northampton in September.
“We’ve taken the view that we won’t risk him this weekend,” Jones said.
The upshot could be that both Robshaw and Itoje now start in the back row alongside Nathan Hughes against Samoa, who were beaten by Romania last weekend.
“Robshaw might get the six-and-a-half jersey out again,” joked Jones. “We can roll that out or we can play Maro at seven. We can experiment because in the World Cup we might have to do that. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
The better news for England is that the Harlequins full-back Mike Brown is fit having been concussed against Argentina. Jones is due to trim down his squad on Tuesday evening but does not sound inclined to give all his Lions the week off. “Not necessarily,” he said. “You have got to remember that if we don’t play them they go back to their clubs.”
Jones has been further encouraged by fitness data showing the sprint times of his backs and the number of accelerations per match among his forwards have improved by up to 4% apiece since the last Six Nations. He remains wary, even so, of the Samoans having toured in the islands with Japan. “We went to Fiji and played in a monsoon. I never saw heavier rain. We got absolutely dished. I can still remember our scrum going backwards at a rate of knots. It’s different playing there.”
The Australian was also a fan of the uncompromising Samoan centre Brian Lima and is keen to support Pacific islands rugby. “Certainly it’s important to keep island rugby strong because they bring a uniqueness to the game. They’ve got fantastic natural skills that, when galvanised together, produces a game no one else can play. I’m glad we’re playing Samoa. It’s going to help Samoan rugby.”
As yet the players have not yet collectively discussed Mako Vunipola’s proposal that they all donate at least £1,000 of their £22,000 match fees to their counterparts, whose union has been declared bankrupt. “We’ll have to see what happens this week but we haven’t spoken about it,” said Bath’s Anthony Watson.
