England’s Six Nations preparations have been further disrupted with Eddie Jones and two of his assistants forced to self-isolate for 10 days following a Covid-19 outbreak among the squad’s coaching staff. The forwards coach, Matt Proudfoot, has tested positive for the virus while Jones and his attack coach, Simon Amor, have been identified as close contacts and must also isolate until 27 January.
With the 2021 Six Nations championship scheduled to kick off on 6 February, it means all three coaches will have to miss the start of England’s training camp next week, due to be held at St George’s Park near Burton. With the RFU having already announced this week that the skills coach Jason Ryles is staying in Australia and will not be working during the Six Nations, it leaves John Mitchell as the only original member of the coaching panel currently available for active on-site duty.
To plug the hole left by Ryles, however, Jones has recruited Ed Robinson, son of the former England head coach Andy, to his staff to offer skills coaching support. Robinson Jr is only 27 and has latterly been employed as assistant coach at Jersey Reds, who have not played a Championship game for almost 11 months. “He’s a talented young coach and will work to help the players improve,” said Jones.
While Proudfoot is not displaying symptoms, his positive test further underlines the potential pitfalls facing all sporting teams during the pandemic. The former South Africa assistant coach, who helped guide the Springboks to Rugby World Cup glory in 2019, was tested on Monday and was found to have returned a positive result the following day.
Jones and his assistants had been scheduled to gather at St George’s Park, normally the training base for England’s footballers, on Monday to fine-tune their plans for their side’s opening fixture against Scotland at Twickenham. Jones and Amor’s arrival will now have to be delayed for three days until next Thursday, 24 hours after the players have gathered to prepare in earnest for the Calcutta Cup match.
Proudfoot, all being well, will be available again on Friday, reducing the hands-on impact he can have on England’s pack for the opening game against the Scots. While all the coaches can still meet remotely and talk online, they have not spent any collective time with the squad on the training field since the first week of December, prior to England’s Autumn Nations Cup final against France. The suspension of the prop Kyle Sinckler for the Scotland game also necessitates a certain amount of front-row reshuffling, Proudfoot’s specialist area.
They will also have to soldier on without the input of Ryles, who has chosen not to relocate from Australia to London with his family. Given the high regard in which Jones holds his fellow Australian, who replaced a equally highly-rated compatriot in Scott Wisemantel, it was another untimely development but England are prepared to welcome Ryles back once he has returned to Europe. “We understand and support Jason’s decision and are expecting that he will be back with us this summer,” said Jones.
There may yet be further Covid-related issues if the virus outbreak reported at Bath this week results in any of the club’s England contingent – Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Sam Underhill and Will Stuart – testing positive early next week. Amid all these distractions, England are still planning to announce a 28-man squad on Friday but the situation underlines the multiple issues facing Six Nations officials as they battle to ensure the tournament proceeds despite the high infection rates and still-rising number of deaths in the United Kingdom.
France’s government is already demanding reassurances on safety from England and Ireland before allowing its national side to visit those countries during the tournament. The French authorities have been concerned by the soaring number of coronavirus cases in the UK and Ireland and have already barred their clubs from taking part in European Cup games this month. Only the tournament’s opening fixture against Italy in Rome on 6 February has so far been approved by the French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu.
