Genge 'fully at it' as England assistant gives verdict on Vunipola replacement options
Ellis Genge took a full part in England training on Friday to ease fears over his availability for the Guinness Six Nations title clash with Wales on February 23.
Genge, the Leicester prop, was forced to withdraw from a session at the squad’s London camp on Thursday because of an ankle injury but has since made a rapid recovery.
“Ellis went fully at it today (Friday) – live set piece, live scrums. He trained and did the whole session,” assistant coach Neal Hatley said.
“He’s responded unbelievably well to treatment last night and charged through training today.”
Genge’s fitness has taken on greater importance after Mako Vunipola was ruled out of the remainder of the Six Nations because of ankle ligament damage that struck against France last Sunday.
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Watch: England team train during Six Nations week off.
Vunipola was a marauding presence in the first two rounds of the Championship and his injury has robbed England of their most effective forward.
Into the void created in the number one jersey must step either Genge or Ben Moon, both of whom are Test rookies but have also acquitted themselves well in the international future.
“We saw over the autumn that Moon is a glue player. He does the basics very, very well and he allows the rest of the team to operate around him,” Hatley said.
“His set-piece was very good during the autumn and he defended exceptionally well. We all saw the hit on Duane Vermeulen in the South Africa game.
“Ellis is also very aggressive. He’s an aggressive scrummager. He has a good ball carrying threat and is explosive. He moves off the line quickly.
“What Mako does for this team can’t be understated, but we’re excited about getting a good 80 minutes at loosehead prop against Wales.”
Press Association
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I’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
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