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England's Jonny May tests positive in Australia
By PA
England have suffered an early setback on their tour to Australia after Jonny May became a doubt for the series opener because of a positive Covid-19 test.
May’s case was confirmed on Friday after he became symptomatic upon arriving in Perth and under government guidelines he must spend the next seven days in self-isolation.
No other members of the touring party have been affected and while Eddie Jones has refused to rule the Gloucester wing out of the opening Test on July 2, it appears unlikely he will be involved.
May underwent knee surgery in January and, having made his comeback as a replacement against Saracens earlier this month, he started last Sunday’s rout against the Barbarians.
Already short of match fitness and facing a week in his hotel room, England’s second most prolific try scorer behind Rory Underwood will have little opportunity to prove he is ready to face the Wallabies.
“We’re not going to rule Jonny May out at this stage. We’ll just see how he is,” Jones said.
“Potentially he’ll be available next Thursday to train, so we’ll have a look to see what he’s like because he’s experienced and he’s showed in his first game back against the Barbarians that he’s lacking game time and that he’s got his best rugby ahead of him.
“We’ll just monitor his situation and make an assessment closer to the day when he gets out.”
England squad for Australia tour:
Backs: H Arundell (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), J Cokanasiga (Bath), F Dingwall (Northampton), O Farrell (Saracens), T Freeman (Northampton), G Furbank (Northampton), W Joseph (London Irish), J Marchant (Harlequins), J May (Gloucester), J Nowell (Exeter), G Porter (Leicester), H Randall (Bristol), J van Poortvliet (Leicester), M Smith (Harlequins), F Steward (Leicester).
Forwards: O Chessum (Leicester), L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), T Curry (Sale Sharks), C Ewels (Bath), E Genge (Leicester), J George (Saracens), J Heyes (Leicester), J Hill (Exeter), N Isiekwe (Saracens), M Itoje (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), L Ludlam (Northampton), B Rodd (Sale Sharks), P Schickerling (Exeter), W Stuart (Bath), S Underhill (Bath), B Vunipola (Saracens), M Vunipola (Saracens), J Walker (Harlequins), J Willis (Wasps).
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Latest Comments
It sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
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