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England rocked by the news that Manu Tuilagi is OUT of Wales game

(Photo by PA)

England have been dealt a massive blow less than 48 hours out from their Guinness Six Nations match versus Wales on Saturday as it has been confirmed that Manu Tuilagi will now not take any part in the match. 

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The Sale midfielder had been chosen as the England No12 when Eddie Jones named his team at 11:30am on Thursday but he was scratched from the side at 7:45pm that evening, resulting in the recall of the axed Joe Marchant to the squad.

An RFU statement read: “England’s Manu Tuilagi is unavailable to play in this weekend’s Guinness Six Nations game against Wales due to injury. It was confirmed after a scan on Thursday afternoon, following training, that Tuilagi has suffered a low-grade hamstring injury.

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“Joe Marchant has been recalled and will train with the squad tomorrow [Friday] at the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre at Pennyhill Park. The updated team will be confirmed on match day [Saturday].”

Cut from the England squad on Tuesday evening when it was reduced from 35 to 25, Marchant, a starter against both Scotland and Italy, was named on the wing for Harlequins in their Gallagher Premiership game on Friday night at Worcester but he has now been hooked from taking part in that match.

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Tuilagi missed the opening two matches of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations in Edinburgh and Rome due to a hamstring injury but was recalled to the England squad having proven his fitness with two recent appearances for Sale. He was sidelined for eleven weeks after he was hurt when scoring against the Springboks in November but was restored to the England midfield on Thursday at the expense of Marchant.

Tuilagi was supposed to wear the No12 shirt on Saturday with Henry Slade shifting out to No13, but England will now have to rejig their team. They fielded a midfield partnership of Slade/Marchant in Rome, having selected Slade with Elliot Daly in the round one loss at Scotland.

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“Manu is a gain line accumulator,” enthused Jones at his media briefing after the inclusion of Tuilagi was one of four changes from the XV that started the win over Italy. “He wins the gain line pretty consistently, he draws defenders in which creates space for other options and he does that better than anyone else in the world when he is at full tilt and we are planning for him to be full tilt on Saturday.”

Tuilagi’s Sale boss Alex Sanderson had spoken last week about the lengths the club and England had gone to so that the midfield powerhouse could return to the international rugby fold. “If anything we want to be more cautious and careful with his increasing loading,” explained Sanderson about the Tuilagi club return that saw him play 30 minutes as a sub at Harlequins followed by a 50-minute start in the Sale midfield at home to Worcester.

“There are very few people who can step up to that (Test) level without having trained up to it. It’s like when you wake up one day and say, ‘I am going to go and win the Olympics’. Firstly you have got to be genetically predisposed and then you have got to put years in training, haven’t you? He has – but he still needs that incremental increase in training week in week out so he can just train at that level otherwise he will break down.

We borrowed the (England) GPS over the last two weeks and we have given them what our recommendations are for his loading and what works for him in terms of treatment to keep him mobile and fresh.

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“I haven’t been in the job long but even with the experience back at Saracens, I haven’t been aware of anything this collaborative in the past over from player. I am really confident we are going to get it right.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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