Lawes’ fitness race for Wales showdown

RUGBY UNION

England are ready to pitch Courtney Lawes straight into their crunch Guinness Six Nations clash with Wales if he impresses during training next week.

Lawes’ last international appearance was as captain during the July tour to Australia but concussion, glute and calf problems have limited him to only 170 minutes of rugby for his club Northampton this season.

But the 33-year-old, who can play lock or flanker, will take part in his first full-blooded practise session today as he closes in on his comeback.

Having amassed 96 caps for England and five for the Lions, scrum coach Richard Cockerill insists there would be no qualms over naming Lawes in the starting XV or on the bench despite his lack of game time.

“Courtney has done

England’s Courtney Lawes

parts of training this week,” Cockerill said yesterday.

“He’ll take full part tomorrow and next week he should be taking a full part in training.

“Hopefully he’ll be available for selection.

“Depending on how he trains, there’s probably no concern over picking him.

“He’s an experienced player and he’s had long injuries previously and come back in and played well, for both club and country. So that doesn’t really concern us when it comes to a guy of his stature.”

TENNIS Part-time player Matija Pecotic has had to request more time off work after claiming a shock win in the Delray Beach Open.

Pecotic, who is ranked 784th in the world and had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw, beat former top-10 player Jack Sock 4-6 6-2 6-2.

The 33-year-old Croatian holds a full-time job in a real estate investment firm and had to leave work early for his match with Sock, with his boss watching from the players’ box on court.

“I had to leave work early. I had to send an email to the whole team. (My boss) let me off. I’m going to have to ask for another day off,” Pecotic told the ATP website.