Archer’s hoping to make return in IPL
England fired for revenge says Eddie
JOFRA ARCHER is set to be at the centre of a tug-of-war after opening the possibility of a return from his elbow injury at the Indian Premier League.
The chances of the bowler taking the field with the Rajasthan Royals will depend on the results of his latest scan but, when asked if he could feature, he said: “You never know, fingers crossed.”
That is a world away from the claim by England, who had said Archer, above, would be ruled out of the IPL when a stress fracture in his right elbow was confirmed last month.
Royals’ head coach Andrew McDonald said: “We still hold out some hope that he may recover.”
And it would seem that he was right to be hopeful, with Archer revealing that he is well on the road to full recovery. “The elbow is fine,” said Archer. “I haven’t felt it for the last few weeks now so I think it’s making good progress.” Archer made the comments after confirming a two-year contract extension with Sussex, however it is the ECB who primarily control his movements now he is centrally contracted.
ENGLAND were looking at the bigger picture after their Six Nations clash with Italy in Rome fell victim to coronavirus.
England fly-half George Ford accepted the organisers had made
THE Six Nations might be crumbling to dust around them but England versus Wales is a fixture with such history that it stands alone regardless.
It is a long time since a game between the sides was obscured to such an extent by outside factors but, coronavirus or not, the two arch rivals are good to go at Twickenham tomorrow.
For Eddie Jones it is both a chance to settle a score after losing to Wales in Cardiff 12 months ago and an opportunity to deliver a little cheer for England supporters in unsettling times.
“I just said to the boys that we want to play rugby where 80,000 fans will come back regardless of what’s going on. That’s the level of intensity, energy and accuracy that we want to play with,” said Jones. “Obviously Wales will want to stop us doing that. So it’s going to be a grand battle.
“You’ve got to remember that they beat us last year so we owe them one. You never like to lose to Wales and we lost last year. It’s still a game that I’m sure
ENGLAND the right call after both teams chose delay ahead of playing behind closed doors.
“There’s rugby and then there’s other things going on in the world every player who played in it, it irks them. It certainly irks me.
“England-Wales games are a little bit different, aren’t they? Since I’ve been coaching, the average points difference is six. They are tough affairs. It goes down to the wire.
“Wayne Pivac is obviously trying to add a more passing attack game. But they will still bring that physical quality.”
Jones, below, has made two changes to the side that that are more important,” said Ford. “This needs to be dealt with and we’ll do what is right.”
The fixture, scheduled for March 14, will now be played at a later date and, with Italy’s trip to overpowered Ireland 24-12 a fortnight ago at Twickenham.
Anthony Watson comes in for his first game of the Six Nations after recovering from a calf strain in place of Jonathan Joseph on the right wing in a move which reunites the World Cup final backline.
However, England will be without Sam Underhill – the hero of the victory
WALES
Ireland tomorrow off as well, the championship is likely to be completed next season.
England’s clash against Italy in the women’s Six Nations is also off, as is the Under-20s match. at Twickenham over Wales two years ago with his tackle on Scott Williams – after he suffered a head injury in training this week. Instead Jones has called up Mark Wilson, who returns to the back row having made just one start for Sale since having a knee operation after the World Cup final.
England, Jones revealed yesterday, have built their championship around peaking for this game.
“This was always going to be the crux game of the Six Nations for us so we deliberately had quite a slow build-up to it so we are at our best this week,” he said.
“We have gone up another level in terms of accuracy and the levels we can play at.
“We’ve probably had our best training run of the Six Nations. We’re not far underneath from where we were at the World Cup now in terms of physical condition and in terms of the intensity we can potentially play with.”
It is an approach which could spell trouble for Wales but, after losing their opening game to France, it is also one that may end up costing England the trophy. If it is ever awarded.