WILLIS WORLD CUP SETBACK

EDDIE JONES’S search for a new No 7 hit another snag on the path to World Cup 2019 with the news that Wasps flanker Jack Willis is out for up to a year. Willis, 21, suffered a major injury to his right knee in Saturday’s 57-33 defeat by Saracens, including rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament. It is a blow for Willis, who had emerged in his debut season as the kind of breakdown expert England coach Jones needs. Willis was to go to South Africa on tour with England next month. Instead, his nine-to-12 months recovery is a crushing blow to his World cup chances. His injury occurred in Wasps’ Premiership semi-final defeat by Saracens when England captain Owen Farrell’s head struck Willis’s knee in a tackle. The flanker’s foot stayed in the turf, but his knee bent the wrong way. While there is no evidence Allianz Park’s artificial surface contributed to the injury, it highlights concerns over plastic pitches. The Scarlets finished Friday’s Pro14 play-off on Glasgow’s plastic pitch at Scotstoun with multiple burns and blisters. ‘‘This pitch should be illegaI,’ said Scarlets full back Johnny McNicholl. However, Glasgow insist their pitch is ‘fully compliant’ with World Rugby’s specification.

Sportsmail understands some players try to avoid artificial pitches as they are worried it aggravates injuries. An RFU report found that in 2016-17 the number of days out after an injury almost doubled if sustained on an artificial pitch but Mark McCall, Saracens director of rugby, said: ‘The sample size is too small to make any definitive conclusions on it.’