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Borthwick gives England injury update, praises suspended Owen Farrell
By Liam Heagney
Steve Borthwick has suggested injuries shouldn’t impact team selection when he names his England XV on Thursday to play Argentina this coming weekend. The English resumed training on Monday in 23°C heat at base camp in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage ahead of next Saturday’s Rugby World Cup opener in Marseille.
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Weekend speculation swirling about the squad was that a whole raft of players – Courtney Lawes (general soreness), Tom Curry (ankle), Manu Tuilagi (groin), Henry Arundell (back spasm), Kyle Sinckler (chest), Elliot Daly and George Martin (both knee issues) – could potentially miss game one through a variety of knocks, but the head coach claimed that wasn’t the case.
Stand-in skipper Lawes, who missed last Saturday’s World Cup capping ceremony after training on a heavy pitch on Friday, was back in harness as were Curry, Tuilagi, Arundell and Sinckler, while his expectation was that Daly and Martin would also be fully back this week.
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Borthwick went on to deliver a timely update on Curry, the only member of the 33-strong squad not to have played a single minute of England’s four-game Summer Nations Series. “Tom Curry only just missed the last game (versus Fiji) and he is looking very good, so the squad is in good shape,” said the coach.
“At this stage, I don’t anticipate anybody being unavailable for this weekend (apart from the suspended Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola, the latter who trained on his own on Monday). I’ll be speaking on Thursday and I’ll give you the update then. Hopefully, at this stage, everybody will be available.”
Asked if he would be tempted to throw Curry in versus Argentina without having played in any match last month, Borthwick added: “Every day I assess players. Tom looks in fantastic shape. He has been doing plenty of skill work. Everybody knows about the condition he has. I have no doubt that he would be able to handle the return straight to Test rugby.”
Borthwick went on to pay tribute to the role skipper Farrell has played in preparations despite his four-game ban meaning he will miss the upcoming tournament games versus the Pumas and Japan.
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“I’ll say every day Owen has been outstanding on the days that weren’t disrupted by him not being available to train due to that process.
“He has been brilliant around the squad, continues to be brilliant around the squad, an example on the training field and in terms of someone playing fly-half on the opposition team he is pretty good. He tests us pretty well.
“In that sense, he is integral to us. I see the players, the relationship Owen has with them, they look to him, they take strength from him, they take advice from him so having Owen there as our leader; unfortunately, he is not on the pitch on Saturday with us but he is with us all the way through it and he will be helping to make sure this team is in the right place come kick-off.”
England copped an avalanche of flak last month during what was widely considered to be the worst build-up by an English side to any World Cup because of suspension, losses and injuries.
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The head coach was keen to stress that the mood was now very much changed with the squad in France and in Test week one. “It is brilliant that we are now here in France, here in Touquet,” he said.
“We have found a beautiful French town that likes English people so the squad has been welcomed with open arms here. We are really enjoying it and we are really looking forward to this game against Argentina on Saturday.
GONE IN 14 SECONDS: England skipper Owen Farrell was put on the spot in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage on Monday when quizzed about the criticisms by Danny Cipriani about his "mafia" type leadership. #EnglandRugby #ENGvARG #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/pJZYjCBNb5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 4, 2023
“We are going to get on with our work, we are going to get on with building. Players trained really well this morning, they are looking in really good shape.
“We know Argentina are a strong side, we know they are a side that have beaten New Zealand, beaten Australia, beaten England in the last year, so we know they are a very good team coming out of The Rugby Championship. They have a lot of expectations on them. For us, we will go about our work.
“I sense a great deal of excitement. We’re here, we’re in Test week, we’re in the World Cup, we’re in France – I sense the excitement has gone up another level.”
His mind is as bent as his nose
He may sense excitement in camp but that certainly isn’t mirrored by the supporters.
Whenever I go more than a week without watching England play, I really start to believe that we can win the world cup.
I'm sure my excitement will turn to deep deep depression about 5 minutes into the match with argentina, but I want to enjoy it while it lasts.