Revenge in the air as England eye win over Ireland in London
ENGLAND number eight Nathan Hughes and lock Courtney Lawes have been ruled out for around three months due to knee ligament injuries and are set to undergo surgery later this week, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said yesterday.
The forwards both sustained their injuries during last weekend’s 22-16 defeat by France in the Six Nations, leading Don Armand to be called up into the 32-man training squad for Saturday’s match against newly-crowned champions Ireland.
“Hughes is expected to be out for 12 weeks while Lawes will require 14 weeks of rehabilitation,” the national governing body said in a statement.
England have lost consecutive matches in a single Six Nations campaign for the first time since 2009 and head coach Eddie Jones is expected to make significant changes against a dominant Ireland side at Twickenham to prevent a third defeat.
Captain Dylan Hartley is expected to return after sitting out the match against France due to a calf problem as Jones’ team look to prevent Ireland from achieving their third grand slam.
Meanwhile England back-rower Sam Simmonds believes a chance to avenge last year’s defeat at Ireland is the perfect incentive for the outgoing champions to end their poor campaign on a positive note.
England’s hopes of a second consecutive grand slam were thwarted on the last day by Ireland and Jones’ side will be desperate for a consolation win at Twickenham.
“Looking back on last year and losing in Ireland, that will be an incentive to push on this weekend,” Exeter number eight Simmonds told British media of the 13-9 loss in Dublin. “There are boys here who are experienced and have played good Ireland teams in the past... if we perform well we know results do come from that. Hopefully we put on a good performance for the Twickenham crowd.”
With their hopes of an unprecedented hat-trick of titles dashed, England will look to avoid a third defeat of the championship that could leave them reflecting on their worst Six Nations performance since 2006.