Hartley faces race to be fit for Paris clash
England captain dylan Hartley is a concern for Saturday’s must-win Test with France after Eddie Jones was dealt a five-man injury blow.
Medics have allowed Hartley until tomorrow to recover from a calf strain, but winger Jack nowell and flanker Sam Underhill have already been sent home with ankle and toe injuries.
Prop Harry Williams is battling to recover from a neck strain and no 8 Zach Mercer was yesterday ruled out of the game in Paris.
If Hartley (below) does not recover by tomorrow morning’s team announcement, playmaker Owen Farrell is favourite to take over the captaincy.
lions hooker Jamie george is on standby to come in at hooker, with luke Cowan-dickie last night named as cover in an extended, 27-man squad.
‘dylan trained on Monday and felt a bit of tightness afterwards,’ revealed assistant coach Steve Borthwick. ‘The decision of the medical team is to monitor it daily. It’s hypothetical but we’ve got players in the team who have captained England before, we’ve got co-captains.’
Hartley’s starting place was already under pressure after last week’s humiliating Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland. In a potential front-row reshuffle, rookie tighthead Kyle Sinckler should feature if Williams doesn’t recover in time.
The withdrawal of nowell, whose tournament is over, and Underhill opens the door to recalls for Elliot daly and Sam Simmonds or James Haskell.
‘It’s unlikely that Jack will be fit for Ireland in the final round but we hope Sam’s injury will calm down quickly,’ added Borthwick. ‘Sam took a knock to his big toe after someone trod on it. It’s flared up.
‘ We’ve got options. James Haskell has got great experience and Sam Simmonds is playing well.’
With Jones addressing his back-row balance, Underhill had been tipped to start after England lost the breakdown battle against Scotland. But Jones’ options are now limited. One was to shift Courtney lawes from flanker to lock in place of Maro Itoje, who has not been able to emulate his lions standards this year. But Jones has backed Itoje — claiming he is suffering from ‘second season syndrome’. ‘In the first season, no one knows what’s your best shot, no one knows where you score runs,’ said Jones. ‘Second season everyone knows and they take that away from you and you’ve got to find a different way to score runs. That’s what Maro’s finding. It’s a great exercise for him.
‘He got a lot of his energy from around the ruck and they are just not giving him that opportunity. It is difficult, particularly when you come out of the blocks in the first season, because you carry expectation and attention.’
Jones believes his players could be suffering from a lions tour hangover. Warren gatland called up 16 England players for the tour of new Zealand — more than any other country in the Six nations.
‘History shows the team that has the most lions struggles in the Six nations,’ said Jones. ‘I always knew this was going to be a tough year but we haven’t used that as an excuse.
‘We’ve had to manage players differently, we’ve had to train players differently. We’re getting to the end of it now. But if you’ve got that many players on a postseason tour that is three or four times longer than a normal tour, it’s going to have an effect.’