England have flown to Portugal for a week‑long training camp with fitness question marks over four players before the November internationals. The Wasps pair of Elliot Daly and Matt Mullan both require scans and have not travelled with the rest of the squad while the Bath flanker Sam Underhill and the Northampton back Piers Francis also picked up knocks over the weekend.
No replacements have yet been called up for Daly (knee) and Mullan (biceps) but the fact that both are remaining at home for further medical scrutiny would suggest more than a hint of managerial concern. The loss of Daly, a Test Lion in New Zealand during the summer, would be a particular blow although the head coach, Eddie Jones, has indicated the winger would be among those not involved in all three of the autumn Tests.
With Marland Yarde’s future at Harlequins the subject of much conjecture and Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni having received no word on Sunday night of a late call‑up, it would appear that, for now, Jones is content to rely on Jonny May, Anthony Watson or Denny Solomona as his wing options against Argentina on Saturday week. At loosehead the situation is slightly complicated by Joe Marler’s recent suspension, although following an appeal the Harlequin is now eligible to face Australia on 18 November if required.
Bath, meanwhile, hope Underhill will be fine despite not returning to the field after the interval in his side’s defeat by Gloucester on Sunday. “He’s got a bit of a stinger down his neck and felt a little bit of pins and needles but hopefully it’s not too serious,” Bath’s director of rugby, Todd Blackadder, said.
Watson successfully passed a first-half head injury assessment and returned to the field while Northampton are optimistic the ankle injury suffered by Francis will not prove serious. “He’s done something to his ankle – he did it early in the game and then got another knock,” the Northampton director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, said. “Hopefully it’s not too bad.”
Meanwhile Mako Vunipola believes England’s unprecedented live scrummaging training session with Wales next week will be as intense as a Test but has dismissed worries it may cause injuries. Jones has sanctioned the extraordinary exercise with Warren Gatland’s Wales for next Monday with “physical stuff” on the cards at Clifton College in Bristol.
Jones has said he wants his players to take part in approximately 12 scrums and 15 lineouts and has urged his charges to “rip into” Wales, while also acknowledging the injury risk posed by the session, which will be overseen by the referee Nigel Owens, five days before both teams begin their autumn internationals.
But Vunipola, who spent much of his childhood in Wales, is relishing the chance to square off against Gatland’s front-rows. “It’s great for us as a forward pack,” he said. “When you’re going against your team-mates in England you know each other but when you’re going against Wales, they’re a world-class outfit – it’s like a game really. You don’t get the chance to train against world-class players often. For us it’s something to look forward to.
“There’s a risk of injury everywhere you go but there’s an opportunity to learn. Even though it’s not a game we’ll be going with the mindset that we want to do as well as we can. Injuries come when you go in with the wrong mindset and people are a bit relaxed. Whatever Eddie has in store for us we have to take that on the chin.”Vunipola, like a number of others, was expected to be rested but Marler suspended for England’s match against Argentina he admits there is added pressure on his shoulders.
“When you have a world-class player like Marler not available for selection, it’s a loss, as a team and a squad,” he addedsaid. “I’ve known Joe for a long time now so it’s disappointment more than anything really. With Joe not being there, it’s not that the pressure is off me, it’s more that the pressure is on to go out there and put my hand up for selection.”
