Eddie Jones’ England rugby squad have been hit hard with injury after hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie suffered an ankle complaint and Anthony Watson ruptured his ACL.
England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie has been ruled out of next month’s rugby internationals with an ankle injury while winger Anthony Watson will also be sidelined after rupturing his ACL.
Cowan-Dickie, who has won 31 caps for England, sustained the injury during Exeter Chiefs’ Premiership win over Wasps on Saturday.
Saracens hooker Jamie George was among the high-profile names omitted from coach Eddie Jones’ 34-man squad for the November internationals but has now been recalled before England travel to Jersey on October 25 for a five-day training camp.
Bath’s Watson suffered the injury in Sunday’s Premiership loss to Saracens, with Harlequins’ Joe Marchant called up as his replacement.
England play Tonga on November 6 before facing Australia and South Africa, all at Twickenham.
The only ray of light on an otherwise bleak afternoon was that Maro Itoje’s shoulder injury, incurred at the Recreation Ground on Sunday, is not serious and he should be available to face Tonga.
Itoje is being monitored daily and he has yet to be ruled out of this weekend’s match against Wasps.
Otherwise, Jones must now revise his plans after losing two guaranteed starters – both of them Test Lions.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Nice one. Unfortunately, the commentators can’t get past making jokes about the Leicester winger…one Harry Potter.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Two good reviews of the guy for sure. He's super mobile, scored a few tries already in a short career at Leicester and was MoM in a game against Gloucester. One fact not noted by SDH and FB above was that when he played at BCS against Irish two weeks back the Irish fullback was Tom Parton. A gift for commentators when the Leicester hooker is tackled by the Irish fullback.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Nic Dolly. Grew up in Oz with one English, one Oz parent. At 17 went to visit his grandparents in England for an extended visit and played a bit of local rugby. Spotted by Sale and offered a place in their under 18s. Decided to stick around and made England under 20s. Went out on loan from Sale to 2nd tier before being picked up by Leicester. One of those left-field selections Eddie likes to throw into every squad. Some sink without trace, some go on. He’s powerful and seems to have something about him. Got Genge and Cole as his Leicester props and Borthwick, who is close to Eddie, as coach, so Eddie would get good intelligence on him.
Xavier
Guest
Well there’s the rugby equivalent of Jurassic Park on their way to England (Aus forward pack is beyond giant!) so Eddie is obviously having second thoughts on that. Be an interesting test. The electricity in the backline from Marcus Smith will be the that finishes the Wallabies. Quite confident England has your measure at Twick. Having lived in Australia and kept an eye on your rugby it has not been up to the standard of UK with regards to pro rugby but the test improvement was impressive.
SDHoneymonster
Guest
He's mobile and athletic with decent on-ball skills and accurate arrows, on the smaller side in international terms but covers ground at a decent clip (I believe he had a bit of a background in Sevens at school in Sydney) and has a nose for the tryline, not just from the back of a maul either. Had to graft a bit to get to where he is too - despite representing England at age group rugby he had to drop down to the Championship with Coventry to get a shot at first team rugby, and from there Leicester have snapped him up and he's taken his chance really well. Given he's played barely a handful of Premiership games though it seems like a gamble by Jones, although a couple of players who'd likely have been ahead of him in the pecking order are unavailable which has forced his hand a bit - Alfie Barbeary, one of the more exciting talents in the country, isn't due back from a long-term hamstring injury until next month, and Gabriel Oghre got himself banned for a high tackle and has been playing mainly at 7 so far this season to boot. He also has an aggressively awful mullet, which has nothing to do with his rugby playing ability but bears mentioning as it is spectacular.
Lessssgooo
Guest
The rugby equivalent of Jurassic Park is about to descend on UK and Europe (I don’t mean that negatively just that the Australian forward pack is gigantic). So it’s going to be good contest!
Tim J
Roar Rookie
Tooly you have a talent, hold on! What was it? I am Saw! I feel nuts! I am always board! I need leverage! I will stop there before you get excited. :shocked:
Darcy
Guest
Well my view from here in London is clear, his plan is a “fast track” plan against what will be the largest forward pack in world rugby coming from the Gold. A monster squad. Which will be interesting given the Gold is loving playing fast rugby too. Going to be an interesting one.
The Yabbie
Roar Rookie
Does anyone know anything of the Australian guy under consideration for a hookers position for England?
abe
Guest
Interesting selection plays for Eddie now. That’s a few to think about. But he does love a challenge so undoubtedly he’s got a plan ready.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
I was surprised that here we are one month from the UK tests and no confirmed coverage in Australia? Anyone know anything about this????
Tooly
Roar Rookie
Like NZ and SA England have plenty of talent. The vital man for Eddie is Owen Farrell.
Englishbob
Guest
Those injuries don't necessitate any change of plan, if EJ even has one at this stage, both players are very good but there are decent replacements. EJ won't have a plan for this anyway, the young quins players and the inexperienced half backs are exactly the opposite of what he's built his game on since 2016, the only difference is international rugby has left that boring kick chase stuff behind and now he's having to adapt. All this talk of world cup phases and accepting mediocrity with a view to a long term vision doesn't wash, NZ never accept losses, South africa were atrocious 24 months before the world cup and went on to win it comfortably with, let's say, an unimaginative if effective gameplan. Eddie has to beat Australia and give SA a game, then win the 6N, anything less and he isn't the man for the next RWC