England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, said he will be monitoring this weekend’s domestic Prem games with some trepidation. Already he has lost at least two potentially key squad members for the entire autumn period in the form of Guy Pepper and Benhard van Rensburg, with doubts still hanging over his first-choice fly-half, Fin Smith, and fresh injury uncertainty emerging on virtually a daily basis. Pepper’s involvement always looked improbable from the moment he sustained a nasty-looking ankle injury against Gloucester last Friday.
The young Bath flanker will be sidelined for several weeks, as will the Bristol centre Van Rensburg who has been advised to rest and recuperate after two heavy concussions within the past three months. Smith, meanwhile, is still being treated for the calf problem he sustained against Leicester last Saturday. Borthwick says it remains “unclear at this stage” whether the Northampton fly-half will be available to face Australia next week.
Calf injuries and kicking are not a great combination and England also need their tactical hub to be at the heart of their preparations. Borthwick, accordingly, will effectively want to make a call by the end of this week although England are slightly helped by the fact the Wallaby fixture is on a Sunday rather than 24 hours earlier. Borthwick’s preference would probably be for both players to be tucked up on their sofas but under the terms of the joint agreement between the Rugby Football Union and the clubs, the latter can pick their international players once they are cleared by England’s medical staff.
Rugby players need to play rugby but, invariably, it comes with an element of risk attached. The stakes are further heightened by next year’s looming World Cup, with Borthwick having pointedly reminded his players that only nine Tests remain before England’s World Cup preparations enter their final stages. The primary message is that, for those intending to be on the plane to Australia, performing at the requisite level starts now.
You look at the power many of these southern hemisphere teams have. That’s a different challenge. When they come into camp again on Monday night, having recovered from their games, all that matters is performing the way we want to against Australia.” Borthwick also brushed aside suggestions of potential discord after the fractious East Midlands derby between Leicester and Northampton where several of his squad were at loggerheads.
The RFU sought to try to dilute any notion of friction by issuing a photo of Ollie Chessum and Henry Pollock with their arms cheerfully around each other and Borthwick has not yet deemed it necessary to pull anyone aside. It’s a strength of English rugby that the players have such pride in their clubs … in modern day sport I see that as a positive. But when you come in [here] it’s all about the England team.”
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