England flying high as wingers give huge lift
ENGLAND expect to face New Zealand in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final with a fully fit squad after delivering a positive bulletin on Jonny May and Jack Nowell.
In a huge lift to Eddie Jones’s Webb Ellis Trophy hopefuls, May and Nowell are on course to recover from knocks in time for the last four showdown at International Stadium Yokohama.
May suffered a minor hamstring injury during the closing stages of the 40-16 quarter-final victory over Australia, in which he celebrated his 50th cap by running in two first-half tries.
Nowell made his comeback from an ankle complaint against Argentina more than two weeks ago only to damage a hamstring, forcing him to sit out the four-try demolition of the Wallabies.
“Jonny’s bouncing around this morning. He has a small twinge and we’ll assess where he is a little bit later today,” assistant coach Neal Hatley said.
“He’s in really good spirits, moving well, and we expect Jack to be fit for selection as well. It’s fantastic where we are - all 31 being available for selection at the end of the week.”
England have also been boosted by Mako Vunipola’s return from the hamstring injury that limited him to 17 minutes of rugby since May 11 until he came on as a replacement against Argentina.
The Saracens prop was promoted into the starting XV against Australia and responded with a display brimming with high work rate and key interventions.
“We were unbelievably impressed by Mako. He continues to go from strength to strength,” Hatley said. “And he needs to because Ellis Genge and Joe Marler have been ferocious in training and everyone’s putting the pressure on. “We’ve talked before about this team of 31 and everyone’s doing their part but Mako, when he plays well like he did, is a real force. I wasn’t surprised at the performance he turned in, but I can understand why people outside of our group would look at it and go ‘that’s a hell of a performance.’”
England name their team to face New Zealand on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, France have called for World Rugby to investigate a photo of referee Jaco Peyper in which he appears to mock the elbow to the head that earned Sebastien Vahaamahina a red card. Peyper sent Vahaamahina off for his brazen act of thuggery early in the second-half of Sunday’s 20-19 World Cup quarterfinal defeat by Wales.
But the South Africa official has now invited controversy on to himself after a picture emerged on social media showing him posing with Welsh fans and playfully landing an elbow on to the head of one.
It’s fantastic where we are – all 31 being available for selection at the end of the week. Neal Hatley