Injury crisis deepens
Te’o and North out of autumn internationals
The injury crisis gripping rugby shows no signs of abating as England centre Ben Te’o and Wales wing George North were both ruled out of their countries’ autumn internationals yesterday.
Te’o is out for “at least a month”, according to Worcester head coach Carl Hogg after injuring his ankle during the club’s 30-20 Challenge Cup victory against Brive on Saturday. North sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in a knee during Northampton’s 57-13 Champions Cup defeat by Saracens on Sunday and is out for six to eight weeks.
The Daily Telegraph revealed last week that RFU has presented research to World Rugby showing the increase in injuries at Premiership level could be a result of the introduction of the global law changes this season. The data showed that the number of tackles per game had risen by 11.4 per cent this season.
According to Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, there are 50 more collisions per match, which he believes is a result of the law changes at the ruck.
England head coach Eddie Jones had already lost Billy Vunipola, the Saracens No 8, Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi and Exeter wing Jack Nowell for the autumn. The Old Mutual Wealth series begins against Argentina on Nov 11 followed by fixtures against Australia and Samoa. Te’o was one of the breakout stars of the British and Irish Lions series draw against New Zealand, starting the first Test in which he nullified the threat of Sonny Bill Williams. Te’o, 30, will have a scan on Monday to ascertain whether he needs an operation that would spell an even longer absence.
“Ben’s unfortunately got a syndesmosis [a high ankle sprain] injury of his ankle,” Hogg said. “He’s being assessed and will head back down to Cardiff on Monday to see whether he’ll go down a surgical route or whether it’ll be managed conservatively. He’s expected to be out for at least a month but we’ll find out more next week once the swelling has settled down and it’ll give us a better idea of time frames.”
The loss of Te’o, together with the continued absence of Tuilagi, who Leicester hope will return from knee surgery in early December, deprives Jones of the option of a gain line-breaking ball carrier at inside centre. Northampton’s Luther Burrell remains out of favour. With Jones thought to be ready to rest Owen Farrell, his first-choice 12, and other Lions tourists for at least two of the autumn fixtures, options are thin on the ground. Jonathan Joseph, Elliot Daly, Henry Slade, Joe Marchant and the fitagain Henry Trinder are primarily employed at outside centre while Northampton’s Harry Mallinder is seen by Jones at full-back. That would leave it to be a straight fight between Saracens’ versatile playmaker Alex Lozowski and Northampton’s Piers Francis, who each started a Test at inside centre in the summer victory in Argentina.
What Wales coach Warren Gatland would give to have that kind of depth at his disposal. After a Lions series in which North struggled for form and fitness, the 25-year-old had recently returned to something like his old self for Northampton with three tries in five Premiership matches. His loss is slightly mitigated by the sparkling form of Scarlets’ impish wing, Steff Evans.
Gatland, who names his squad for the autumn internationals against Australia, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa on Tuesday, was already without Sam Warburton, Gareth Anscombe, James Davies and Gethin Jenkins while back row Ross Moriarty has yet to feature for Gloucester since being injured on the Lions tour.
Scott Baldwin, the Ospreys hooker, hopes to be available in the coming weeks, however, after speaking for the first time about being bitten by a lion at a safari park in South Africa. “The infection was the major issue,” the 28-year-old told the BBC. “The next day it started tracking up my arm. The surgeon said there was a chance I could lose my hand. The first day our doctor cleaned it out and stitched it up. But the next day we went to the hospital after it had become infected. I had my first operation on the Thursday, a second on Friday, and then I was allowed to fly home Saturday on the understanding I had an IV drip and went straight to hospital when I got back.”