Peter Bills: England's Long Injury List Is More Than Just A Case Of Bad Luck

The rate of attrition among England’s young rugby players is no coincidence, and some serious questions need to be asked, writes Peter Bills.

As England prepare for their autumn international programme against the southern hemisphere nations (New Zealand excepted) selection has once again become problematic. So many injuries have overtaken so many England players that whatever the final 15 chosen, it is inevitable that the squad will be seven or eight players short of its best.

In other words, we shall be watching matches devalued before they even begin.

The reason for this is twofold. Professional rugby union has become a massively physical sport. Imposing size is no defence whatsoever against the ravages of injuries. Large forwards and smaller backs alike are carried off to the hospital casualty wards with disturbing frequency.

Some weeks ago when England held what coach Eddie Jones warned would be a very physical training programme over two days, flank forward Sam Jones broke a leg attempting a judo manoeuvre. The Wasps flanker had been pencilled in to start against South Africa at Twickenham on November 12 because three other possibilities for the open-side berth, James Haskell, Jack Clifford and Mike Williams were already injured.

This week’s medical bulletin tells us that England will not only be missing four first choice flankers, but also both Saracens and England locks – George Kruis, who has had an operation on a damaged ankle, and Maro Itoje, who fractured his hand last week representing his club – will now miss the whole autumn programme. Another Saracens and England player Owen Farrell has only just started the season after not playing since June due to a back injury.

Also missing will be back-up hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie who has recently undergone ankle surgery.

Both first choice England wings from the June tour to Australia, Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell, also have serious long-term injuries and will miss all the autumn Tests. Meanwhile, England captain Dylan Hartley has been sidelined for the last six weeks and is battling to be match fit for the Test programme.

There are others, but you get the point.

Is it not possible that the second reason for this calamity is overwork? Players admit it sometimes takes them until Tuesday or Wednesday to get over the previous weekend’s battles. Then they face a physical training session and start the countdown to another excessively physical match.

It is true that medical science and therefore preparation has come on in leaps and bounds in modern times. But there is a major snag. The human body remains what it has always been. No-one has yet reinvented any part of it. Which means that despite players being physically bigger, tougher and supposedly better prepared for an 80 minute pounding of their bodies, they cannot avoid one simple fact.

If you subject the human body to such excessive physical punishment, it will break down. There will be a price to pay.

We are seeing the consequences of this overt physicality at all levels of the game, not just in the professional world. Players at junior club level hurtle into one another with a complete disregard for physical safety that is often alarming. And at that level, there are no medical experts on the touchline waiting to administer to a player with a serious injury. Somehow, he has to get on with it which means hobbling back to the clubhouse, icing and then strapping the injury, seeing his doctor the following week (if he’s lucky) and then waiting weeks to see a specialist. By which stage, a lot of damage has been done.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the cash-rich Rugby Football Union (RFU) set up a medical programme by which players at ANY level could be fast-tracked towards proper, professional medical attention within a few days of being injured? The current set-up in amateur rugby is a joke when Twickenham, which purports to represent the whole game in England, announces profits running into tens of millions of pounds.

Of course, none of this will injure the sacred cow, ticket sales, ahead of the autumn internationals. Someone will wear the jersey and all the seats will be sold, as usual.

But aren’t we selling two sets of people short here, the players and spectators? The first group had better have wonderful medical insurance for later life. Would you want to have their bodies when they’re 50 or 60 with their wrecked hips, knee joints and arthritis? Then there is the frightening element of concussion with its long term effects.

As for the spectators, we routinely watch inferior teams because of all the injuries. But does anyone care about any of this in the dash for cash?