Geoff Parling is set to return to Six Nations action for the first time in two years when England tackle Scotland on Saturday. The lock forward’s Test career has been badly affected by injuries since he toured with the Lions in 2013 but he is poised to return to the matchday squad along with the fit-again Courtney Lawes and the full-back Mike Brown.
The 31-year-old Parling, who is moving to Exeter from Leicester this summer, missed the 2014 Six Nations after having operations on both his shoulders. He was forced out of the third Test in New Zealand last summer with a strained hamstring, sat out the autumn series because of concussion and has not yet featured in this year’s championship after damaging knee ligaments in January.
His experience and lineout expertise remain highly prized by the management and he will be recalled to England’s 23-man Calcutta Cup squad who are due to be confirmed on Wednesday. Lawes, also absent for England’s first three games, is in line to start, with Parling earmarked for a place on the bench as specialist second-row cover alongside Northampton’s Tom Wood, replacing the injured Tom Croft and Harlequins’ Nick Easter.
With Saracens’ George Kruis set to drop out and Wasps’ Joe Launchbury still injured, the England’s forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, is looking to Lawes to assist Dave Attwood in boosting England’s lineout threat. “Courtney is a special player”, Rowntree said and Parling is “a very wily, clever footballer”.
There is also a clear desire within England to make up for their display in Dublin. Despite the fact none of England’s probable matchday squad were born the last time Scotland won at Twickenham in 1983, Rowntree is seeking significant improvements in quality across the board.
“There is lots we have to put right because it was immensely frustrating. Going into the Irish game we practised breakdowns every day and still we got beaten to key balls. That can’t happen again. I expect a reaction,” he said.
Reducing the number of penalties conceded and starting games better are also among England’s priorities. “It is not just about penalties, it is about discipline in terms of sticking to our plan,” Rowntree added. “The guys know that. We have had pretty frank discussions. It is not something we are trying to ignore.”
Those under pressure to improve include the captain Chris Robshaw who, to quote Rowntree, was one of many who “did not have his best game in Ireland.”
Robshaw did not attempt to disagree. “Ireland played extremely well and put us under pressure but we didn’t feel we gave the best reflection of ourselves. We just didn’t play as well as we would have liked, whether it was down to the pressure they put on us or thinking things over too much early in the week,” he said.
“We’re frustrated that our discipline didn’t go well and the game got away from us. They came out all guns blazing and we didn’t deal with it until the 60th minute by which time it was too late to get back into it.”
Robshaw also confirmed England would break with tradition by cheering on Wales this weekend. A Welsh win over Ireland in Cardiff will ensure the title is determined by points difference on the final weekend, while an Irish victory would leave Joe Schmidt’s side within reach of a grand slam depending on the outcome of their final game in Scotland.
“From an English point of view we hope Wales win,” Robshaw said. “It might come down to the last game but we just want to make sure we get a win.”
England team (probable) Brown (Harlequins); Watson (Bath), Joseph (Bath), Burrell (Northampton), Nowell (Exeter); Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler (Harlequins), Hartley (Northampton), Cole (Leicester), Attwood (Bath), Lawes (Northampton), Haskell (Wasps), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements T Youngs (Leicester), M Vunipola (Saracens), Brookes (Newcastle), Parling (Leicester), Wood (Northampton), Wigglesworth (Saracens), Cipriani (Sale), Twelvetrees (Gloucester).
