England will go into tour mode to protect players from Covid

EDDIE Jones’ England squad announcement on Friday is set to be one of the most hotly anticipated in recent years as Six Nations squads are set to essentially go into tour mode.

To try and keep the national side’s Covid-19 secure bubble intact, England will not be releasing players back to their clubs between games even if they don’t make the match day squads.

Normally players who fail to make the matchday 23, plus a couple of travelling reserves, are released back to their clubs on a Wednesday enabling them to play in club games, with the 2020/21 Gallagher Premiership

running currently every weekend of this year’s Six Nations.

However Premiership Rugby, The RPA and The RFU have agreed that England will retain a 28-player squad for the Guinness Six Nations.

Other national bodies have yet to confirm whether they will do the same, but with the French government forcing the final two rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup to be cancelled over fear of spreading the virus, it would come as little surprise if they adopt the same approach, providing an agreement can be made with the relevant governing bodies, to allow the tournament to go ahead during the height of the pandemic.

The understandable, and frankly wise decision, will have a huge impact on the players available to almost every director of rugby in the Gallagher Premiership. The policy will most impact players on the fringes of squads, like Callum Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd with Wales, England’s Charlie Ewels and Tom Dunn at Bath.

Eddie Jones’ side, who won last season’s championship, will first spend a week at St. George’s Park, England football’s training base, in Staffordshire.

They will then return to The Lensbury, Teddington, for the remainder of the tournament. England were based at The Lensbury for their successful 2020 Autumn Nations Cup campaign.

England begin their defence of the trophy with two home matches at Twickenham Stadium, opening with the Calcutta Cup against Scotland on Saturday, February 6 (4.45pm), followed by Italy on February 13 (2.15pm).

They will then play Wales away on February 27 (4.45pm) before returning to Twickenham to take on France on Saturday, March 13 (4.45pm). Jones’ side then travel to Dublin to play Ireland in their final game on March 20 (4.45pm).