Te’o out of England’s RWC squad
ENGLAND left center Ben Te’o out of its Rugby World Cup squad yesterday after he was involved in a scuffle with a teammate at a training camp in Italy.
Te’o lost his place to utility back Piers Francis as coach Eddie Jones sprang a few surprises in his 31-man group destined for Japan next month.
Jones included uncapped wing Ruaridh McConnochie, a former sevens specialist, and also gave World Cup opportunities to hooker Jack Singleton, flanker Lewis Ludlam and 32-year-old scrumhalf Willi Heinz just 24 hours after their test debuts.
They all made their first appearances in Sunday’s victory over Six Nations champion Wales. Ludlam was particularly impressive in the 33-19 win at Twickenham that prevented Wales replacing world champion New Zealand as rugby’s top-ranked side.
As expected, Jones left out former captain Dylan Hartley, scrumhalf Danny Care, flyhalf Danny Cipriani and fullback Mike Brown, the player New Zealand-born Te’o had an altercation with at a camp in Treviso last month.
Inside center Te’o had been prominent in Jones’ team when fully fit.
Loose forward Brad Shields, another New Zealand-born player, also missed out on the World Cup after sustaining a foot injury at the same training camp.
“A lot of good players have missed out, we feel for them, I feel for them personally,” Jones said. “But as we know the World Cup is an incredible tournament where opportunities can present themselves and all those players who have missed out have been told they have to be ready.”
Flyhalf Owen Farrell captains the squad in his second World Cup.
Jones named his England squad nearly a month before the deadline.
England plays Tonga, the US, Argentina and France in the RWC group stage.
Meanwhile, Wales flyhalf Gareth Anscombe has been ruled out of the RWC with ligament damage in his right knee, the second major injury blow for the Six Nations champion.
Anscombe was hurt in the loss to England. No. 8 Taulupe Faletau broke his collarbone at training and will also miss the RWC.
(AP)