England duo omitted as they return to club action
ANTHONY Watson and Mako Vunipola will be released by England to play for Bath and Saracens this weekend as they bid for starting places in the RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland.
The pair have been named in Eddie Jones’ 27-man squad for this week’s training camp in Oxford, the Rugby Football Union announced, as preparations continue for the Calcutta Cup contest at Twickenham on March 11.
Exeter centre Henry Slade, who came off the bench in the 36-15 win over Italy at Twickenham, has been omitted, but Bath centre Jonathan Joseph is back after being dropped last week.
Watson returned to England’s training squad for last Sunday’s win over Italy, but did not make the matchday 23 and will be given a further opportunity to boost his fitness in Bath’s Aviva Premiership clash with Wasps on Saturday.
Vunipola, who came off the bench against the Azzurri, will be made available to Saracens for their clash at Newcastle as he seeks to displace Joe Marler at loosehead prop against the Scots.
Four others – Kyle Sinckler of Harlequins, Northampton’s Paul Hill, and the Leicester pair of Mike Williams and Ellis Genge – will also be released back to their clubs for this weekend’s Premiership fixtures. Leicester play Exeter on Friday, when Northampton travel to Sale, and Harlequins play at Gloucester on Saturday.
The England training camp continues until Friday.
Meanwhile, World Rugby has ruled out any knee-jerk response to the crafty breakdown tactics used by Italy against England at Twickenham on Sunday.
England head coach Eddie Jones was infuriated by the Azzurri’s strategy of refusing to compete for possession after a tackle had been made, thereby ensuring no ruck was formed and there was no offside line.
It meant Conor O’Shea’s Italy were legitimately able to swarm over the RBS 6 Nations champions from all directions as they sought to use the ball.
The hosts ultimately emerged convincing 36-15 winners, but an angry Jones said of the ploy: “If that’s rugby, I’m going to retire”, adding that the laws must be revised or the game will “cease to be rugby”.
It is now understood that World Rugby is considering whether to review the laws governing the breakdown in light of events at Twickenham, but there will be no immediate action taken.
The tackle and ruck are already being examined as part of an ongoing routine review of the laws that was initiated after the 2015 World Cup.
Italy acted within the laws, which were correctly officiated by French referee Romain Poite, and the tactics used have been evident in other games at Test and club level, although never in such wholesale fashion.
Unions are able to submit a clarification request over laws, but it is understood t h at the Ru g b y Football Union will not be raising the issue as a matter of urgency and will instead opt to handle it via the regular discussions that already take place with World Rugby.
“World Rugby regularly issue clarifications on various laws, so they could decide to do this anyway due to the interest generated by [Sunday’s] match,” an RFU spokeswoman said.
England 27-man squad for this week’s training camp in Oxford:
J Clifford (Harlequins), D Cole (Leicester), E Genge (Leicester), J George (Saracens), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), P Hill (Northampton), N Hughes (Wasps), M Itoje (Saracens), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Lawes (Northampton), J Marler (Harlequins), K Sinckler (Harlequins), M Vunipola (Saracens), M Williams (Leicester), Tom Wood (Northampton).
M Brown (Harlequins), D Care (Harlequins), E Daly (Wasps), O Farrell (Saracens), G Ford (Bath), J Joseph (Bath), J May (Gloucester), J Nowell (Exeter), B Te’o (Worcester), A Watson ( B at h ), B Young s (Leicester).