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England lock Launchbury out for entire Six Nations
By Chris Jones
England look certain to be without Wasps lock Joe Launchbury for the entire Six Nations Championship following his fibia stress fracture.
It was hoped that Launchbury, who pulled out of the championship just before it kicked off, would be back for the final two England matches against France and Ireland but Lee Blackett, the Wasps director of rugby, today confirmed that a time scale of three to six weeks was still in place.
Launchbury had formed a highly effective double act with Maro Itoje and his work rate and maul destroying skills have been badly missed by England who have used Exeter’s Jonny Hill to fill the void in the second row.
Blackett who needs Launchbury back to help halt a poor run insisted the lock would only be cleared to play when the medical staff were completely happy with his recovery from the leg fracture. Blackett said: “It is going well with Joe and he could potentially be available in three to six weeks. From the start we hoped Joe could be back for the last two games of the Six Nations but that was always going to be a push and we are going to try our best.
“Our medical guys are in contact with England and the key is to make sure he is fit. I am sure a fully fit and raring to go Joe is someone they would want involved but it looks like it will be a push.”
Blackett has hit back at Steve Borthwick, the Leicester director of rugby, who claimed Wasps players were calling for red cards during a match that saw the Tigers win 27-8. Leicester players Jasper Wiese and Hanro Lienbenberg plus Wasps Kieran Brookes were sent off and Blackett said: “It is an emotional sport and I have too much respect for other clubs to talk about what other clubs do.
“I wouldn’t be using the media to get a point across to another club."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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