Elliot Daly is set to miss out on England’s autumn internationals campaign due to torn knee ligaments and Eddie Jones has called up Semesa Rokoduguni, handing the Fiji-born wing the chance to stake his claim for a first international appearance in 12 months.
Daly has been replaced at England’s training camp in Portugal after Wasps confirmed the results of his scan. He is due to miss England’s first two autumn matches against Argentina and Australia but there remains a chance he will be fit for the final Test against Samoa.
For Rokoduguni it is a first England call-up since winning his second cap against Fiji last November and it comes 24 hours after he took his try tally to seven in seven Premiership matches for Bath. He will compete with Denny Solomona, Jonny May and Anthony Watson for a starting berth when England begin their autumn campaign against Argentina on 11 November.
Daly suffered his knee injury against Northampton on Saturday and Wasps will continue to assess him for the remainder of the week before he undergoes a two- to- three-week period of rehabilitation. The upper end of that time frame would rule him out of all three of England’s matches. Daly’s Wasps team-mate Matt Mullan has been ruled out for three months with a torn triceps but Jones has opted against calling up any loosehead cover.
Daly becomes England’s fifth British & Irish Lion ruled out of the Argentina match through either injury or suspension, joining Ben Te’o, Kyle Sinckler, Jack Nowell and Joe Marler on the sidelines. Billy Vunipola and Manu Tuilagi are also notable injury absentees this autumn.
For Rokoduguni, however, it is another chance to press his England claims. He won his first cap under Stuart Lancaster during the 2014 autumn campaign but disappeared out of the picture thereafter and it was a similar story under Jones last year. Speaking after Bath’s defeat by Gloucester on Sunday, Rokoduguni said. “Anything can happen in the next couple of weeks whether in training or in games with injuries. You never know the next opportunity may be just around the corner. I will keep performing, keep looking after my body and try to get better every day. There has been contact with Eddie about the way I have been playing. In the past couple of games, I have been happy with my defensive improvement.”
Rokoduguni’s Bath team-mate Charlie Ewels, who also joined up with the rest of the England squad in Portugal on Monday, has been cited for a dangerous tackle on Gloucester’s Henry Trinder during Sunday’s West Country derby. The minimum ban is two weeks but, if the disciplinary panel rules on Wednesday that Ewels struck Trinder’s head, he faces six weeks on the sidelines.
Julian Savea leads All Blacks contingent in Barbarians side
Julian Savea has been joined by five more All Blacks in the Barbarians squad to face New Zealand on Saturday, including the fellow World Cup winner Ben Franks, but there is a dearth of Premiership players because of the injury crisis taking hold.
Savea was among the first tranche of players selected last week and is joined by London Irish’s Franks, as well as the Gloucester back-row Ruan Ackermann – the only two Premiership players in the 26-man squad. Bristol’s All Black Steven Luatua has also been selected, taking the total number of New Zealanders to 13.
The Barbarians were believed to be hopeful of landing Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni but he has been called up by England as replacement for the injured Elliot Daly while Wasps’ South African full-back Willie le Roux was also reportedly among the Premiership players on their radar. A deal had even been brokered with Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL), who had agreed to the release of its players for the match, which marks the All Blacks’ 125-year anniversary, although each of the 12 clubs reserved the right to a final say and it is understood they have been more resistant because of the number of injuries in the opening two months of the season.
As recently as this month the Barbarians were hopeful of securing members of England’s 45-man elite player squad who were not picked by Eddie Jones last week for the autumn internationals but no Englishmen nor any British & Irish Lions have been selected. After the Lions Test series against the All Blacks ended in a draw it was suggested that the Barbarians pick players from Warren Gatland’s touring side for an unofficial decider but the Rugby Football Union swiftly nipped the proposal in the bud, saying no English Lions would be made available.
The All Blacks, who stand to earn up to £3m for the fixture, are also set to be without Sonny Bill Williams, Kieran Read and Dane Coles, who are among a number of players due to arrive in the UK on Friday. Nonetheless, organisers are hopeful of selling 65,000 tickets for the match.
Luke Whitelock, Dominic Bird and Andy Ellis are the other three former All Blacks in Robbie Deans’s squad while the Australia pair of Taqele Naiyaravoro and Sam Carter are also selected, as is the former South Africa captain Adriaan Strauss.
Meanwhile, Quade Cooper, who captained the Barbarians to a narrow defeat by Australia last weekend, has been omitted from the Wallabies squad for their autumn Tests. Michael Cheika’s side face Japan in Yokohama on Saturday before matches against Wales, England and Scotland. Cheika has, however, called up six uncapped players – the two locks Matt Philip and Blake Enever, the former Gloucester centre Billy Meakes, the outside back Izaia Perese, the full-back Jack Maddocks and Liam Wright, who plays in the back row. Cheika said: “We’ll be looking to pick our best side for every Test of the tour. These are important matches and we want to build a consistent, winning mindset and that’s something we want to pass on to next year’s team.”
Wasps have completed the signing of the South African international back-rower Nizaam Carr on a three-month deal as injury cover. “Nizaam has a strong reputation for his defence, athleticism and linking play and I’m sure he will prove himself a valuable addition to the squad, even on a short-term basis,” said Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young. Gerard Meagher
