England fly-half Owen Farrell is a doubt for next weekend's Six Nations clash with Italy at Twickenham due to injury.
Farrell sustained a quad injury in the 23-13 victory over France last weekend and has not been running in training since, although he is expected to be back in the build-up to next weekend.
"In the next week he'll be running, but the problem will be kicking. If there's a doubt we won't risk it," said England coach Stuart Lancaster to BBC Sport.
Lancaster also revealed that Ben Morgan would not be fit in time to face the Italians, but could play a part against Wales on the final weekend.
Wasps number eight Billy Vunipola will be in contention to face Italy, but Alex Corbisiero, Jonathan Joseph, Tom Croft and Calum Clark have all been ruled out of the final two matches.
Comments
TVaddict says...
For Italy it would be fun to see:
1. Vunipola
2. Youngs
3. Cole
4. Launchbury
5. Parling
6. Wood
7. Robshaw (c)
8. Vunipola
9. Care
10. Burns (if still shows form this weekend, otherwise bench)
11. Biggs
12. Twelvetrees
13. Tuilagi
14. Wade
15. Brown
16. Hartley
17. Marler
18. Wilson
19. Lawes
20. Haskell
21. Youngs
22. Flood
23. Goode
Though I'd be happy if only Vunipola and one new winger were trialled. Strettle and Waldrom will count as a backward step.
Posted 15:09 01st March 2013
lawynd says...
@ramm83 - Easter is still a great player, there's no doubt about it. He blotted his copy book at the world cup though with his comments after the France game and for that reason alone, I'd never want to see him in an England shirt again. As a direct comparison, you might as well flip a coin; Easter makes better progress in the tackle but Waldrom has a yard more pace. Everything else is equal.
Posted 14:49 01st March 2013
ramm83 says...
@Lawynd - Here's one for you - Would you rather Waldrom or Easter (I appreciate Easter is no longer in contention)? Both similar players - intelligent ball carriers, good hands, etc. Just wondered what yours/others thoughts were on a comparison.
Posted 13:06 01st March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Well ideally, Morgan will be fit before long and Vunipola is now, plus we know now that Wood can perform well at number 8 if need be. This gives us 3 good options at number 8. We've been unlucky recently in that 2 of the 3 have been injured at the same time.
I must admit I do find SL a bit conservative at times but he has proved me wrong. I had always believed Lawes Attwood to be our best 2nd row option but the Lunchbox Parling combo has done extremely well.
Posted 10:43 01st March 2013
lawynd says...
@heart_of_oak - if you'd prefer Vunipola to be in the squad ahead of Waldrom, who am I to argue? It's your opinion. It only annoys me when we get comments like kybone's fairly inane, "I really don't know what SL sees in Waldrom.", or when people scream for him to be dropped in favour of injured players. I also think it's a nasty cheap shot when his size/weight is mentioned too, given that he'll beat most players (and all of us) in a short-yardage situation.
Once and for all, for those of you who've clearly never actually watched him play, he's an intelligent player with good hands for an offload or the pass, runs intelligent lines, is very explosive over twenty metres and usually sucks in more than one defender. He also has vastly more experience than any of our current back row players, a valuable commodity.
Posted 09:24 01st March 2013
butl says...
Give Owen a breather - Flood has got it covered
Posted 09:10 01st March 2013
ben7 says...
1.vunipola
2.hartley
3.cole
4.lawes
5.parling
6.wood
7.robshaw (c)
8.haskell
9.care
10.flood
11.wade
12.twelvetrees
13.tuilagi
14.brown
15.foden
16.youngs
17.marler
18.wilson
19.launchbury
20.waldrom
21.youngs
22.burns
23.barrett
Posted 06:09 01st March 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
SL may give Lawes one more go but at 4. Launchbury 6 or even 8 with Wood and Robshaw. I hate to see a player dropped for playing out of position not so well. Drop him from 6 for sure. I think there's more to gain from that experiment. However happy to see Vuni in at 8 as well. In SL we trust. I can see him bringing in Burns for Italy if he's match ready. Best game to do it. And with his clubmate 36 and 36 with his former club mate Tuilagi. A rest for BradB to face Jamie Roberts.
Posted 22:15 28th February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
I can already guess the comments if we have two Vunipolas and Tuilagi in the starting 15. Dull dull dull
Posted 22:00 28th February 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Frooschman is right - it'll be Flood, not Burns for the Italian game. I'd rather have seen Burns play but if you read what Burns himself is saying, it doesn't seem like he thinks he's right for the Italy game. He seems to want to get some game time with Gloucester first. Flood has played some reasonable games for England so I don't think it's the end of the world.
At the risk of annoying Lawynd, I feel we should not select Waldrom as a backup number 8 to Wood but should select Vunipola if fit. I would imagine SL will not go for Lawes at 6 again but will instead start with a back row of Haskell, Robshaw, Wood and Vunipola as cover for no.8. Billy might come on with say 20 or 30 minutes to go and if so, then I'd expect Wood to move to 6 and Haskell to go off.
I think we'll see Lawes on the bench as backup for Lunchbox and Parling.
Posted 19:11 28th February 2013
NHsaints says...
Well ideally burns would walk into the 10 shirt but as it is he's still a bit iffy from injury, Flood will be able to take on the italians just fine.
Posted 18:12 28th February 2013
Frooschman says...
The real tragedy here is that this won't represent an opportunity for Burns. I just can't see SL picking Burns, in what would be only his second game back, ahead of Flood. I really wanted SL to ring the changes for this game. If not now then when?!
Posted 16:32 28th February 2013
LondonWasp says...
wrap him in wool and save for the welsh game...
Posted 16:12 28th February 2013
kybone says...
TVaddict- Id fully expect to see Flood play with Burns on the bench given that Burns is just returning from injury himself. I'd like to see Billy V in for Waldrom. I really don't know what SL sees in Waldrom. If he thinks that Wood can play 8, and obviously Haskell can, then i would have thought Morgans injury would have been an ideal opportunity to bring Matt Kvesic into the squad. I actually see a 6.Robshaw 7.Kvesic 8.Morgan as the future of Englands back row.
Posted 14:37 28th February 2013
TVaddict says...
Vunipola in please! Hopefully Farrell will be fit but if not I wouldn't mind seeing Burns fast tracked into the starting 10 shirt (if he shows no lose of form this weekend).
Posted 14:14 28th February 2013