England cold shoulder doesn’t bother Lee
WASPS boss Lee Blackett expects Paolo Odogwu to be fit and available for England selection - after a shoulder issue contributed to him not returning to his club.
Following Wasps’ 20-19 defeat to Gloucester on Saturday, the club’s fifth defeat in six games without Odogwu following his first international call-up, Blackett explained his approach to Eddie Jones for the player’s services were rejected.
The 24-year-old has yet to make his
Test debut and has not played a game of rugby in more than eight weeks.
Jones, speaking on Sunday, claimed it ‘was a player’s decision’ and that Odogwu had been ‘nursing a bit of a sore shoulder’. Yesterday, Blackett explained his approach was more in hope than in expectation.
“I was aware from our medical [team] that he had a shoulder injury and had been training in a bib,” he said. “By a bib, generally, that means a non-contact bib. So I realised he was in that situation. To be honest, when we asked, we never actually expected him to come back.
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get. I’m happy to grovel at times, I don’t mind getting refused.”
Odogwu has returned to the England camp after a rest week and is in contention for England’s fourth match of the Guinness Six Nations against France at Twickenham on Saturday.
Blackett said: “I expect to see him up for selection this weekend.”
BRITISH driver George Russell says the natural path indicates he will be in a Mercedes next year - but he insists he has not been made any promises on his future.
The 23-year-old is entering the final campaign of his three-season deal with Williams and is a member of the Mercedes junior academy.
He impressed as a stand-in for
Lewis Hamilton at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix – twice denied a brilliant victory by an error in the pits and then a puncture.
Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have both signed only one-year contracts with Mercedes, raising the prospect that one, or potentially both seats, could be vacant at the sport’s all-conquering team in 2022. Team principal Toto
Wolff has admitted that Mercedes are having to consider their future options, with Hamilton 37 next year and Bottas 32 in August.
“Toto has always given me his word, and always George given me the opportunity Russell when he believes I deserve it,” said Russell.
“They have told me I am part of that future. A lot of people think next year is the natural path. But equally things change very quickly in motorsport, especially in Formula One.
“I had a taste of life at the front of the grid last year but I am just focused on the here and now.
“If I perform on track, deliver and continue on the same path and progress that I have been on so far, I guess in the future the opportunity will come. But no promises have been made at all.”