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Tom Curry marked absent as England name training week squad of 28
By Liam Heagney
Steve Borthwick has confirmed that Tom Curry and George Martin are on an injury rehab list separate from the 28-man England squad that assembled on Wednesday to begin preparations for the February 22 Guinness Six Nations match at home to Scotland.
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The English kick-started their season with last Saturday’s last-gasp round two Allianz Stadium win over France. A 35-strong squad had prepared for that match, but Borthwick will now work with a reduced number for the fallow week training camp.
Three of last week’s forwards – Curtis Langdon, Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Bevan Rodd – have been released to their clubs, the injured Curry and Martin are doing their rehab separately from the squad of 28 at Pennyhill, while Henry Pollock has been recalled for Test group training following his recent matches with Mark Mapletoft’s England U20s. Curry and Martin are both expected to return to full training next week.
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In the backs, Fraser Dingwall, Alex Lozowski and Ben Spencer have been excluded from this week’s squad. Lozowski was the player called up last week after Cadan Murley, a starter in the round one loss to Ireland in Dublin, pulled out with a foot injury.
It was also revealed that Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the November starter on the wing who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, will visit Pennyhill on Thursday for one day of rehab.
An RFU statement read: “Twenty-eight players have assembled at the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre, Pennyhill Park, today to begin preparations for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations Test match against Scotland at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, February 22 (kick-off 4.45pm GMT). The squad will train until Friday, February 14.”
U20s talisman Pollock was originally with Borthwick’s senior squad during their January training camp in Spain and he last week told RugbyPass: “I spent six days there. It was really cool. Very fortunate to get the opportunity to go out to Girona and train with them, see the different environment and learn from some world-class players.
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“I just tried to be like a sponge and take as much in from different coaches, different players, just picking the brains of people I wouldn’t normally chat to. They were really helpful – you definitely felt part of the group.”
England squad
Forwards (15):
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Tom Willis (Saracens)
Backs (13):
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Rehabilitation: Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
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Tom Curry would be a huge loss obviously given he was arguably England’s most influential player in both rounds.
If only there were another player like Tom Curry we could bring in…