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Bath open up on the Joe Cokanasiga England injury mystery
By Liam Heagney
Bath boss Johann van Graan has explained why Joe Cokanasiga was able to play for his club last Sunday versus the Barbarians just days after he had been released from the England squad due to an ankle injury. The winger had started the November 12 Autumn Nations Series win over Japan but was excluded from the squad to face the All Blacks when Eddie Jones pared back his options from 36 to 25 players last Tuesday.
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An RFU statement at the time said: “Joe Cokanasiga is unavailable for selection after suffering an ankle injury in England’s 52-13 win over Japan.” That meant he missed the 25-all draw that unfolded versus the All Blacks but eyebrows were raised when he appeared off the bench in Sunday’s Bath versus Barbarians friendly at The Rec.
“He was released back to us and was available for the game,” explained van Grann without going into the finer medical details in a report published by somersetlive.co.uk. “His ankle recovered and we selected him. He trained on Friday and we cleared him to play and he scored a nice try on the right-hand side corner.”
Cokanasiga has since linked back up with the England squad. Jones assembled 36 players at Pennyhill on Monday for two days of training before he was to again slim down his options ahead of this Saturday’s final match of the November series versus the Springboks. When the decision came on Tuesday evening, Cokanasiga didn’t make the list of 26 players retained for next Saturday’s series finale.
While Cokanasiga would have been disappointed to miss out on England involvement versus the All Blacks (and again versus the Springboks after starts versus Argentina and Japan), his Bath colleague Will Stuart enjoyed a recall to the national team set-up for the New Zealand match following last month’s knee injury and he celebrated by scoring two tries in a seven-minute spell near the end of the game.
Van Graan added: “He recovered really well and worked really hard on his fitness and had two massive moments. It was 25-6 and then three tries for England, two from our tighthead prop. I’m really glad for him, I thought he carried really well and he made a really big difference for England.”
