England sweating over key duo as PREM coach turns to ‘next man up’
Ted Hill (right) and Charlie Ewels (left) both picked up injuries in Bath's win over Sale Sharks
England head coach Steve Borthwick could have yet more injuries ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, with Ted Hill and Charlie Ewels emerging as major concerns.
The pair were both taken off with knocks following Bath’s 28-16 win over Sale Sharks at the Rec, with Hill later seen with crutches.
This comes after Harry Randall, Gabriel Ibitoye and George Martin were both ruled out of the November Tests, while Tom Curry, Will Muir and George Furbank remain in doubt.
‘We’ll just make sure that we look after them’
Speaking after the game, Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan confirmed Ewels had suffered a knee injury, while Hill was a suspected ankle issue.
Elsewhere, fellow lock Quinn Roux could also be out for a while, with the Ireland international also picking up a knock to the knee.
“Charlie’s knee, Quinn looks like both knees, and Ted looks like an ankle,” said the Bath boss. “I think if you just look at the PREM last weekend, and obviously we’re the first game this weekend, a lot of big trauma injuries, and all teams will get it.
“It’s who deals with it the best. We’ll just make sure that we look after them and it’s next man up. I think that’s been what we’ve been doing for the last three and a half years, and hence in the PREM Cup you give guys opportunities for when these opportunities come, and when the need comes in the first team, you use them.”
From a Bath perspective, losing three of your front-line second-row options, even with Hill mainly a back-rower, will come as a major blow; but the boss is confident he can already plug this new hole.
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“I think I’ll just first need to see what the diagnosis is, but I’d say the first guy (to come into the team) is definitely Ewan Richards, who’s done really well for us over the last few seasons.
“It might be Will Jeans, and we might use some of our loose forward in the locks. So, I think we’ll just take our time and see what we need and also look at our opponents and then what does the next few weeks look like. Because every weekend in the Premiership is a big game and we’ve got Gloucester at home, Leicester away and then Bristol at home.
“But, yeah, I don’t want to get carried away too much.”
Around that, Guy Pepper could also be an option to shift into lock, with the newly-capped England international moving there as a makeshift option in the win over Sale.