Eddie Jones issues update on the fitness of his England midfielders
Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade are winning their fitness battles for England’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland.
Tuilagi and Slade have been recovering from respective groin and ankle injuries but are on course to be available for the Twickenham showdown on Sunday.
“Manu trained fully today so should be in contention for selection. It’s good to have a quality player back,” head coach Eddie Jones said on Wednesday.
“Slade trained today so we have just got to monitor his progress. Positive chance. Quality player. It gives us more options.”
Ollie Devoto, who won his second cap as a replacement off the bench at the Stade de France on February 2, is a doubt because of a back problem.
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England have been hit by the loss of prop Mako Vunipola, who has returned home to Tonga for family reasons.
“Mako’s a quality player but we are lucky we are blessed with two outstanding loosehead props in Joe Marler and Ellis Genge, so we can recover the loss of Mako,” Jones said.
- Press Association
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Hard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
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