... and worries over hamstrung Tuilagi

MANU TUILAGI is missing England’s training camp this week and staying at his club Leicester after picking up a hamstring injury in Sunday’s defeat by Worcester at Welford Road. The 27-year- old centre was due to link up with the national squad hours after the Premiership game to participate in two days of training in Bristol. While the RFU announced that Tuilagi, club-mate Ben Youngs and Worcester prop Nick Schonert had withdrawn from the camp due to injury, they would not provide details and the Tigers only said that Tuilagi and Youngs had ‘niggles’. Tuilagi left the field four minutes from the end of Sunday’s epic Premiership encounter and did not appear to be in any discomfort. The early prognosis is that the hamstring strain is not serious but the AngloSamoan has a troubling history of apparently minor setbacks turning into drawn-out ordeals.

Meanwhile, England’s new defence coach John Mitchell has started his tenure by emphatically declaring that Eddie Jones’s men can improve enough in the next 12 months to win the World Cup.

‘I really believe we can get better and be the best within a year’s time,’ said the former All Blacks coach. ‘I believe I can play a part in that and contribute to that.’

So, how about the daunting task of overhauling his compatriots? ‘They’re a very outstanding group and they’ve evolved the game as well,’ he said of New Zealand. ‘But you just need to focus on being a better team yourself. We can’t focus on them.’