The England management have called up nine extra players to their training camp before next week’s Test against New Zealand, including the Exeter trio Dave Ewers, Thomas Waldrom and Henry Slade. The three Chiefs will provide injury cover for Wasps’ James Haskell, Saracens’ Billy Vunipola and Northampton’s Luther Burrell.
Bath’s Henry Thomas and Northampton’s Alex Waller have also been summoned as front row cover for David Wilson and Joe Marler, who have calf and thigh injuries respectively and will play only a limited part in training this week. Ben Foden, Anthony Watson, Matt Kvesic and Richard Wigglesworth will also attend training, with Tom Wood of Northampton set to join the squad later this week as his wife prepares to give birth to the couple’s third child.
England also continue to await the results of an x-ray on Burrell, amid fears the centre may have cracked a bone in his right hand. Burrell is staying with Saints for specialist assessment while Vunipola is being treated for the effects of a concussion picked up towards the end of Saracens’ game at Munster on Friday.
Haskell is still getting over a viral infection and, with Will Fraser (Saracens) also suffering a concussion, Ewers comes in. “We always anticipated bringing in additional players following the European games, either to cover injuries or for training,” said the head coach, Stuart Lancaster.
“Luther will be assessed by a specialist over the next 48 hours and our medics are in close contact with Saints so we’ll know more in a few days but it’s great to be able to bring in Henry. Billy will undergo the return-to-play protocol with us and will resume training once he has completed that. Injuries are inevitable but we are excited about the group we have in camp. We are raring to go and looking forward to getting out on the training pitch.”
Harlequins say Marler should be back training by Wednesday or Thursday, having tweaked a quad muscle trying to outsprint Mike Brown in training.
Bath are confident that Kyle Eastmond, having missed Saturday’s game against Toulouse, will be fit to train at Pennyhill Park with England at some stage this week. Haskell, however, spent several days in hospital this week and will need to prove his strength has fully returned before he can be considered for a seriously-demanding Test match.
The Quins director of rugby, Conor O’Shea, meanwhile, has repeated his belief that England could not have a better captain than Chris Robshaw at next year’s World Cup. The flanker led his club for the first time this season against Wasps and was typically influential in his side’s 23-16 away win. “How anyone would even contemplate going on the field without him is beyond my comprehension,” said O’Shea, suggesting a period without the captaincy at club level had refreshed the national captain. “He loved getting the armband back. It’s probably been good for England and Stuart.”
