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A combined injured XV who'll miss some or all of the Six Nations
By Ian Cameron
The 2024 Guinness Six Nations is poised to commence under the shadow of an unprecedented number of injuries to front line players, with at least 37 front-line athletes across all participating nations set to miss some or all of the tournament.
Here we pick a combined 23 based on the players listed as current Six Nations injury absentees.
15. Ange Capuozzo - Italy
Capuozzo, the Azzurri’s most dangerous broken field runner, has a stomach bug and has withdrawn from the starting team to face Steve Borthwick’s men at the Stadio Olimpico.
14. Mack Hansen - Ireland
Hansen underwent surgery last month after suffering a dislocated shoulder during Connacht's United Rugby Championship clash against Munster. He'll be out for three to four months.
13. Manu Tuilagi - England
The frequently England centre will miss the start of the the Six Nations after suffering a groin injury during Sale's Gallagher Premiership victory over Saracens back in December.
12. Ollie Lawrence - England
The in-form centre injured his hip against Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup last month.
11. Darcy Graham - Scotland
Graham has been ruled out for at least the first two games of the Guinness Six Nations with a quad injury.
10. Romain Ntamack - France
The 24-year-old was one of the major casualties for France, or indeed any team, ahead of the World Cup after rupturing his ACL in a warm-up match against Scotland in August and underwent surgery soon after.
9, Jack van Poortvliet - England
The England nine's World Cup campaign lasted less than a week as he limped out of last year's Summer Nations Series win over Wales after succumbing to a first-half ankle injury
8. Taulupe Faletau - Wales
The No.8 was ruled out of the rest of last year's Rugby World Cup after suffering a broken arm during their 43-19 win over Georgia in their final pool game.
7. Tom Curry - England
The England back-rower underwent hip surgery that will see him miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season.
6. Anthony Jelonch - France
France are without flanker Jelonch for the entirety of the Guinness Six Nations after he suffered a knee injury in the Investec Champions Cup in January.
5. Jonny Gray - Scotland
The 29-year-old suffered a nasty knee injury in their European Champions Cup semi-final defeat at La Rochelle in 2023, an injury that caused him to miss the Rugby World Cup. He's still out of action.
4. Thibaud Flament - France
The towering lock is set to miss the opening game against Ireland at the very least.
3. WP Nel - Scotland
The veteran prop was ruled out of Saturday's opening match against Wales in Cardiff with a neck strain.
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie - England
The hooker - who has had a string of injuries in recent seasons - picked up his most recent injury as his Sale side were beaten by La Rochelle in the Champions Cup in January.
1. Dave Kilcoyne - Ireland
The the 56-cap international underwent shoulder surgery in January with Munster saying he will be ruled out for the rest of the URC season.
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Rob Herring - Ireland
The Ulster hooker suffered a “significant” elbow injury in training with the Irish province.
17. Simone Ferrari (Italy)
Benetton confirmed that the prop suffered a fracture of the right collarbone in a URC match against the Glasgow Warriors and underwent surgery on it.
18. Marco Riccioni - Italy
Suffered with a neck injury for Saracens.
19. Christ Tshiunza (Wales)
Tshiunza broke his foot playing for Exeter against Sale Sharks and still isn't back.
20. Dylan Cretin - France
Cretin is sidelined with a significant injury to his knee.
21. Jac Morgan
The Wales captain is likely to miss the entire 2024 Six Nations after undergoing knee surgery.
22. Marcus Smith - England
Smith could yet miss the entire Guinness Six Nations because of the calf injury that has already ruled him of at least this Saturday’s opener against Italy and Wales a week later.
23. Paolo Odogwu - Italy
Odogwu, 26, is set to miss this year’s Guinness Six Nations championship and beyond after rupturing his Achilles in December.
additional reporting PA
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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