Dallagio has selection advice for Eddie Jones as England hit by backrow crisis

Lawrence Dallaglio is urging Eddie Jones to pick the Exeter pair of Sam Simmonds and Don Armand to solve England’s Six Nations backrow crisis created by injuries to Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes and James Haskell’s red card.

While Haskell is still to appear before a disciplinary hearing for his illegal hit on Harlequins Jamie Roberts, Jones knows he must rule Vunipola out of England’s bid for a historic third successive title with the Saracens No8 facing at least 12 weeks out after breaking is arm against Ospreys. Hughes is likely to miss the opening three championship games with Italy (Feb 4), Wales and Scotland due to knee ligament damage.

With Bath flanker Sam Underhill only just back after concussion problems, Jones will have to supplement his back resources when he names England’s Six Nations squad on Thursday.

Teimana Harrison, the Northampton No8, put in a big shift in the European Champions Cup pool win over Clermont Auvergne and will be in the selection mix but Dallaglio is adamant Armand and Simmonds deserve the chance to line up alongside Chris Robshaw as the starting back row against Italy in Rome.

That would mean shifting Robshaw to the No7 role Jones feels does not fully suit the Harlequin flanker’s skills set but given the injury problems, the former captain would be a safe pair of hands given the way Simmonds operates as a No8. The Exeter forward is much smaller than Vunipola and Hughes as a No8 but the lack of size would be offset by the inclusion of Armand who was capped by England on last summer’s tour of Argentina and was a key figure in Exeter’s Premiership title triumph last season.

Dallaglio, the former England No8 and captain, said: “Billy’s injury is headache for Eddie Jones who was really looking forward to having him back and so were the rest of his England team mates. With Nathan being out and James picking up a very untimely red card it’s going to cause selection problems. Harrison put in a very good performance for Saints in front of Jones and that will have been noted but Simmonds was outstanding for Exeter against Montpellier and I like the dynamism he offers off the base of the scrum.

“I know Eddie has said Simmonds needs to be a bit bigger and there was a possibility he may have given him a run at No7 against Italy with Billy back but his hand may have to be played now and Simmonds could slot into the No8 role without any problem. Eddie may also have to move Chris Robshaw back to No7 and then there are a number of choices for blindside with Courtney Lawes or Maro Itoje or dip into the pool of talent we have and the next in line is Don Armand. He has been outstanding for the Chiefs and cannot be that far away. You cannot say that week in, week out, Armand doesn’t deserve his opportunity. It is about balance in the back row and if you pick Simmonds and Armand you have club mates alongside each other.

“We don’t know which bone Billy has fractured and you see a lot of guys in rugby who have broken their forearm and then suffer another break by coming back too soon. It is one of those injuries you have to get right and it is wretched luck for Billy who also missed the Lions tour and then had the first half of the season out with a knee injury. I know how hard he worked to get fit and be able to hit the ground running against Wasps.”