England's notorious training camp claims a sixth player, Josh McNally
Bath lock Josh McNally has become the sixth player injured in England's notoriously brutal training environment, following hot on the heels of Worcester's Ted Hill.
NcNally earned his first international cap against the US Eagles last weekend but suffered a shoulder injury in training which has ruled him out of contention for this weekend’s game against Canada.
As with Hill, the 31-year-old will remain with England for rest of the summer series with further assessment needed to discover the full extent of the injury.
“We are extremely proud of Josh’s journey and the challenges he has had to overcome to achieve international recognition,” Bath Director of Rugby Stuart Hooper said. “His professionalism and leadership during his time at Bath has been exemplary and we are confident these attributes will aid his rehabilitation back to the field.
“We will support Josh throughout his recovery to ensure a safe and strong return.”
Fellow back five forward Hill suffered an ankle injury and will also be kept in camp for further assessment. Hill and McNally are the fifth and sixth injuries to befall England's current camp in the last four weeks alone. Sean Robinson, Miles Reid, Fraser Dingwall and Sam Underhill all picked injuries in camp, although Underhill did go on to play a part in England’s victory over the US Eagles last weekend.
"Unfortunately, they are just part of the game. I don’t think it is new in the game at all," said defence coach John Mitchell when asked about the spate of injuries two weeks ago. “You have had other teams, including the Lions, that have lost players in their preparation. The demands of this level of rugby require you to train and stress the players at a level that is equivalent to the game or above the game. It’s part and parcel of the preparation."
A late bloomer, McNally moved to Bath after two seasons with London Irish and became one of England's oldest debut cap ever when he won his first cap at the age of 31.
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What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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