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Big blow for England as Bath confirm a major Sam Underhill setback
By Liam Heagney
England boss Steve Borthwick has been handed a huge Guinness Six Nations headache following Friday’s injury update from Bath on Sam Underhill. The 28-year-old was a starter in his country’s two most recent matches, the Autumn Nations Series fixtures versus South Africa and Japan.
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Named at openside for last year’s entire five-match Six Nations campaign and for the three-game summer trip to Japan and New Zealand, Underhill had returned to the Test side having missed the series-opening games in November against the All Blacks and Australia due to a delayed start to the 2024/25 club season caused by an an ankle operation after a tour injury with England.
Underhill has since played off the bench in Bath’s three most recent Gallagher Premiership fixtures, including last Sunday’s last-gasp defeat at Northampton, but he now faces a significant layoff – which includes missing the Six Nations campaign with England which starts away to Ireland on February 1.
Borthwick is due to name his squad for the tournament next Tuesday in London, but the 40-cap Underhill – along with Exeter’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (dislocated shoulder) and Northampton’s George Furbank (broken arm) – will be marked absent following Bath’s latest medical bulletin.
“Sam Underhill will undergo surgery to rectify a new ankle injury suffered in the round 10 Premiership game against Northampton. There is no set timeframe on his recovery,” read the update on the Bath website.
Other club injuries were also mentioned. “Will Muir and Guy Pepper have both begun their rehabilitation process following injuries sustained against Saints. Both will be unavailable for the remainder of January. Cam Redpath is being monitored week-to-week on a leg injured sustained against Saracens in round nine of the Premiership.”
Bath’s XV for this Sunday’s Investec Champions Cup match at home to Clermont shows five changes from the trip to Franklin’s Gardens. Thomas du Toit, Charlie Ewels, Ted Hill, Tom de Glanville and Ruaridh McConnochie have all been named to start.
BATH: 15. Tom de Glanville; 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Max Ojomoh, 11. Ruaridh McConnochie; 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben Spencer (capt), 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Thomas du Toit, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Ted Hill, 7. Miles Reid, 8. Alfie Barbeary. Reps: 16. Niall Annett, 17. Francois van Wyk, 18. Will Stuart, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. Louis Schreuder, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Ethan Staddon.
CLERMONT: 15. Alex Newsome; 14. Bautista Delguy, 13. Pierre Fouyssac, 12. Irae Simone, 11. Lucas Tauzin; 10. Anthony Belleau, 9. Baptiste Jauneau; 1. Giorgi Akhaladze, 2. Folau Fainga’a, 3. Regis Montagne, 4. Rob Simmons, 5. Peceli Yato, 6. Killian Tixeront, 7. Marcos Kremer, 8. Fritz Lee (capt). Reps: 16. Etienne Fourcade, 17. Sacha Lotrian, 18. Michael Ala’alatoa, 19. Thomas Ceyte, 20. Oskar Rixen, 21. Sebastien Bezy, 22. Theo Giral, 23. Alivereti Raka.
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Was he rushed back by Bath? Should have been centrally contracted by England to manage his return to play
Urghh. Disappointing as Underhill would’ve been the first name on my England team sheet. It does perhaps open the door for Earl to slip in a 7 with you-know-who starting at 8.