Gareth is latest hit by injury hoodoo
state school programme – he explained he had tried to stay ahead of the curve.
“I’m convinced it’s our best 31. I could have picked more experienced players but I just don’t feel they’ll give us what the younger guys will give us,” said Jones.
“One of the vital things about selection is knowing when a player is just about to fall off. Maybe because of a physical or an attitudinal or an emotional reason, they can’t just give you what they did give you.
“After two years I thought we would carry quite an experienced team to the World Cup. Then I found out I needed to make changes so I had to start again.”
So no Chris Robshaw, no Danny Care and no Dylan Hartley, whose knee injury rendered him unavailable in any case. No Mike Brown or Ben Te’o, for other reasons, either.
Included instead will be one-cap wonders Lewis Ludlam, Willi Heinz and Jack Singleton.
It is a bold strategy from Jones. Time will tell whether it is the right one. FORWARDS AGE: POSITION: FLANKER CLUB: NORTHAMPTON ENGLAND CAPS: 1 Voted England’s player of the World U20 tournament where they were beaten in the final by
New Zealand. AGE:
POSITION: HOOKER
CLUB: SARACENS
ENGLAND CAPS: 1
Came on with just 90 seconds remaining on Sunday to earn his first cap as he heads to Japan as part of the squad. AGE: POSITION: SCRUM-HALF CLUB: GLOUCESTER ENGLAND CAPS: 1 Named as vice-captain on his debut on Sunday having first been part of an England training camp in 2017. WALES lost star man Gareth Anscombe for the World Cup yesterday but George North insists his team will not hit the panic button.
Fly-half Anscombe was forced off in Sunday’s warm-up defeat by England and scans revealed he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury at Twickenham.
It means Warren Gatland’s first-choice playmaker follows Bath No8 Taulupe Faletau in being ruled out of the tournament in Japan.
Wales wing North, who scored his 37th Test try against England, said: “We have had our fair share of injuries and they will come along the way. We had them badly four years ago. But we are not panicking and it is what it is.”
Anscombe’s fine form on the Test stage had made him a key man for Wales in Japan and he kicked 20 points as his adopted country sealed Six Nations Grand Slam glory over Ireland in March. But the New Zealand-born back now faces at least nine months on the sidelines.
He becomes the latest Wales player to suffer World Cup warm-up injury heartbreak after Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb were both injured before the 2015 competition.
IRELAND also have issues at No 10 with back-up stand-off Joey Carbery set to be sidelined for six weeks with an ankle injury suffered against Italy on Saturday.
The Munster stand-off is touch and go for theWorld Cup opener against Scotland on September 22.