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Jones: 'Mako definitely won't be ready for the start of RWC'

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has confirmed that Mako Vunipola will miss at least the first two of England’s World Cup pool matches with a recurrence of the hamstring injury he first suffered in the Heineken Cup final last May with Saracens.

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However, head coach Jones is adamant the loosehead will be a key member of the squad and can still make a significant contribution – even though the earliest that is likely to be is the third pool match with Argentina on October 5 followed by the group finale versus France.

Confirmation that Vunipola will miss the early games with Tonga and the USA will leave Joe Marler as the first choice loosehead with Ellis Genge, a try scorer in Friday’s 37-0 win over Italy in Newcastle, providing cover off the bench. 

Injured in the August 24 rout of Ireland at Twickenham, the initial diagnosis on Vunipola was that a 10-day break would ensure he was ready for Japan. However, that situation has now been updated and his absence for the early weeks is a significant blow to the England cause.

Jones said: “Mako definitely won’t be ready for the start but we believe he will be ready for game three or four of the pool stage. 

“Mako is a very important player for us and we feel he is going to be ready to contribute in the World Cup. We are carrying two looseheads who are in great form, but we are confident that Mako will make a great contribution.

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“Jack (Nowell) in the last couple of days has taken off and we have had to hold him back, but he should be right again around the same time as Mako.”

England lost Joe Launchbury and Luke Cowan-Dickie to injury against Italians in Newcastle, but Jones insisted they were not major worries and added that Kyle Sinckler was only taken off as a precaution. 

Launchbury has a back problem and will be monitored along with Cowan-Dickie before England depart on Sunday for Japan.

Jones insisted the win over Italy, which completed a four-match World Cup warm-up programme, was a worthwhile exercise although England had to wait until the second half to pull away from a combative Italian side that lacked a real cutting edge.

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WATCH: The trailer for the new RugbyPass documentary featuring Tonga, England’s opponents in their World Cup campaign opener in Sapporo on September 22

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J
JW 4 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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