England ‘fully fit’ for Scots Six Nations clash
ENGLAND have been given a clean bill of health for S aturday’s S ix N ations clash against Scotland in E dinburgh, with Nathan Hughes on course to start at No8.
Lingering doubts o over ver Owen Farrell and Joe Launchbury y have lifted. lifted.FarFarrell (pictured, AFP) overcame an unspecified lower leg eg injury and Launchbury is available ailable after after missing Friday’s open pen tr aining session at Twickenham. ham.
Hughes has been pr oving his fitness dur ing gr uelling elling ses - sions at England ’s Surrey training base after ter recovering from knee ee ligament damage e sustained on Wasps s duty in mid-D ecember.
The No8 has made e one club appearance ce since returning several ral weeks ahead of schededule but star ts at M Mur- ur- rayfield after Sam Simmonds was ruled out by a shoulder problem.
“Everyone’s fully fit for selection this weekend,” forwards coach Steve Borthwick said.“Nathan’s worked really hard, really diligently and he looks in r eally good shape. He’s healed h very fast, which is great.
“While our str ength and conditioning and medical team have wor ked incr edibly hard, the cr edit edi has to go to Nathan for the w work he’s done while he he’s been injured. We want to make sur sure all of our pla players ar e r eady for Test matches, that that’s why we train at the intensity level we t train at. ““Nathan gives us differ ent str strengths to Sam. He He’s an outstanding ball carrier. His effect on the group has grown.
“He’s excellent with younger players, helping them mentally. He’s grown as a player in terms of the influence he has throughout, as a leader as well.”
England are second in the Six Nations table after two wins out of two, trailing Ireland on points difference, while Scotland are in four th spot follo wing their win against France.
Meanwhile, Leigh H alfpenny, D an Biggar and Taulupe F aletau have all returned to training for Wales ahead of their Six Nations clash against Ireland, also on Saturday.
Victory for Wales would end Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes and keep alive their own title chances , while an I rish win would incr ease the likelihood of a championship showdown against England at Twickenham on March 17.
Halfpenny, B iggar and F aletau all missed the 12-6 defeat to England at Twickenham, which came after Wales opened their Six Nations account with a thumping 34-7 win against Scotland.
George North, a second-half replacement at Twickenham, and Liam Williams are also fit to travel to Dublin.
“Everybody has been given the green light and we’ve got a few bo ys who are happy they scor ed at the w eekend [in club r ugby],” Wales for wards coach Robin McBryde said.“There were a couple of wins and some good per formances so it ’s gr eat to have ever ybody back with a spring in their step.
“It’s nice to have a few selection headaches and plenty of play ers to choose from.“There’s a competitive edge to training and ther e will be a few tough calls I’m sure, but we’re looking forward to those discussions.”
Full-back Halfpenny, who scored two tries against Scotland, missed the Twickenham defeat after picking up a foot injury.
Outside-half Biggar suffered a shoulder injur y playing for O spreys in the Champions C up last month and N o8 Faletau has battled back after damaging knee ligaments.