It’s swing low, sick chariot Gavin Mairs
Jones set to shuffle England line-up to face France as injury, illness hit and concerns arise over ‘clunky’ showing
England are expected to make at least seven changes to their starting XV to face France as sickness and injury concerns hit the squad. Billy Vunipola is almost certain to be unavailable for the final Pool C match at the Tokyo Stadium on Saturday, because of an ankle injury he sustained in the win over Argentina.
A supporter took a photograph of the Saracens No 8 in a medical boot on Monday, just hours after England had said he was walking free and without any support to the ankle.
Although England have still to confirm the extent of the injury, it is not thought it will rule him out of the rest of the tournament and he is expected to be fit for the quarter-finals.
Owen Farrell, the England captain, may also be rested after Scott Wisemantel, England’s attack coach, said his performance against Argentina had been “clunky”.
Farrell received a heavy blow to his head in the second successive game that again resulted in a red card for the tackler, in this case Tomas Lavanini.
Farrell was one of two players, including England’s top try-scorer Luke Cowan-Dickie, also to have been struck by a stomach bug and only took a minimal part in training yesterday.
Other injury concerns are Jack Nowell, who did not train because of tightness in his leg, and Joe Marler, who has a back issue.
Given England have already qualified for the quarter-finals, Eddie Jones, the head coach, has the luxury of resting any player who is considered a doubt.
There is also the incentive of giving players who did not feature in the starting XV against Argentina some game time against Les Bleus, with a longer-term view of the potential quarter-final against Australia the following weekend.
So Mako Vunipola, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Mark Wilson are likely to come into the starting pack while Jones faces the conundrum of whether to rest Farrell, who was not at his best against Argentina.
Willi Heinz is likely to start at halfback and Henry Slade is expected to start in a reshuffled midfield.
One option is to rest Farrell and Manu Tuilagi, with Piers Francis a possibility to start at 12, unless Jones opts to stick with the George Ford/ Farrell combination at first fiveeighths and second five-eighths to allow the England captain to iron out the wrinkles in his game which were obvious last Saturday.
Farrell also missed four successive kicks at goal in the first half.
“Today he was just a bit crook in the stomach, he was a bit sick,” said Wisemantel of Farrell.
“That is the only reason that he came out later on. In regard to the weekend, I don’t think the bump had any effect on him. I asked after the game, he said he felt pretty good, just a bit clunky with a few of the plays.
“But I thought he did outstandingly well.
“The goal-kicking? It would be easy to panic and say let’s change to George, but the boys changed the problem on the field and he said he was approaching the ball too square, fixed it, and away he went.”
Asked if Farrell looked like he had been affected by the blow to his head from Lavanini’s hit, Wisemantel added: “We have reviewed it and there are a couple of areas we need to pick up on, but he was fine.
“When I say clunky, look I am a perfectionist. You are never going to get a perfect game of rugby. We scored six tries and five to the backs so we are not too clunky.
“I probably over-exaggerated, and for a reason, because there is a story there with Owen and you are going down that route and I am trying to deflect, all right.
“Because it is not just Owen, there are other things that I see around him that aren’t perfect that we need to get right.
“The thing about the dynamic is Owen becomes more of a runner at 12. And then you can pull it apart and say he is not his usual self. He is more of a runner, so you are seeing a different Owen.
“So you are not seeing the distributor all the time because George fills that role. It is changing roles. So George is doing exceptionally well.”