Launchbury’s injury is not as bad as feared, says Borthwick
ENGLAND lock Joe Launchbury has been given a clean bill of health after alarm was raised over a back injury sustained during Friday’s World Cup send-off.
Italy were thumped 37-0 at St James’ Park but Launchbury’s first-half exit took the shine off the third victory of the summer’s four warm-up Tests.
Forwards coach Steve Borthwick insists the Wasps captain will be ready for the World Cup opener against Tonga on September 22.
“Joe Launchbury came off with a back injury but there’s nothing concerning. Joe will recover from the flight and will be good to go,” Borthwick said.
Mako Vunipola (hamstring) and Jack Nowell (ankle) are on schedule to play in the key pool games against Argentina and France, while Henry Slade (knee) could face Tonga.
England’s first full day at their training camp in Miyazaki was partially taken up by a community visit to a local high school, where a brass band played ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen as the players sat on stage.
Hundreds of children watched as fly-half George Ford exchanged passes with the captain of the school team, before gifts were exchanged and Borthwick gave a short speech in Japanese.
“I said it’s great to be here in Japan and we’ll do our very best at the World Cup. I thanked them for their support,” Borthwick said.
“The players are enjoying it. It’s a great training camp here in Miyazaki. I know that from my previous experience coaching with Japan at the last World Cup.
“You couldn’t have asked for better facilities and the players have enjoyed how we’ve started.”
SO now we wait. Ireland’s last half of preparation at the Aviva Stadium showed they were a good deal more concise than they have been all summer.
Accuracy and efficiency does come with game-time. Apart from Jack Carty’s Premier League goalkeeper side-swipe of a cross-kick in the second half, everything looked as it should.
Ireland are 10/1 to win the World Cup behind South Africa 9/2, England at 4/1 and New Zealand 5/4, which is just about bang on.
Keep your money in your pocket, though — we may know what to do in the Heineken Cup, but at international level, well, we still are not a team that can play cup rugby consistently well. The Six Nations is a league after all.
In the coming showpiece the blight of an occasional bad day at the office is an affliction that we just don’t seem to be able to inoculate ourselves from.
On a more encouraging note, the squad left Dublin Airport yesterday but there were no Hallelujah choruses that this is the best team we have ever sent, or not even the best prepared.
Joe Schmidt may have had four years to reflect on a crushing loss to Argentina in Cardiff but, like all mortals, he is still a prisoner of circumstance.
Let us also remind ourselves that Argie side in 2015 was a really good side — they had us for quality and confidence all across the pitch.
Despite assurances and numerous newspaper articles, there is no great depth to this squad and the 2019 version is a long way down on the quality of the 2015 and 2011 versions.
Despite the fantastic wins against Australia and France in the pool stages in those World Cups, Ireland did not have the depth or the cup-winning mentality to get past the quarter-finals — why on earth would we consider we have a chance when our depth and quality are a good distance off our last two squads and the knowledge of who we have in the quarters?
Both New Zealand and South Africa are considerably stronger than Wales (2011) and Argentina (2015).
Injury is just one of those intangibles when it comes to World Cups — particularly when it comes to Irish involvement. We are in Donald Rumsfeld territory here and can only point to knowing that two of the Irish squad are injured and yet are still being brought to Japan. Joey Carbery and Keith Earls we know are injured.
It is the Carlsberg conundrum here — it is probably the right call to take the gamble on them. Injury has hampered the players’ training and preparation, which is not really something to concern Joe, unless, of course, one of those players is called Devin Toner. Neither Earls nor Carbery could be fully match-fit and if they get injured again, Ireland are in trouble.
Earls and Carbery are the only players that we know for certain are injured — there could be at least three more — and injury can and will hit Ireland harder than any other contender. A full deck and Ireland can contend.
Ireland look like their pack is beginning to awaken from their slumbers. You can’t win this tournament without a really good one. Halves too are priceless. Grant Fox and David Kirk, Michael Lynagh and Nick Farr Jones, and Joel Stransky and Joost van der Westhuizen — it ain’t ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ pairings. These are legendary partnerships who led their teams to World Cup glory. The last edition of Aaron Smith and Dan Carter shows you the standard required.
We are light in this area. We are light because two years ago we did have the best half-back pairing in the world. That is not the case anymore. On form, Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard, who led South Africa to the Rugby Championship, are the