Marler set to face France after rapid recovery from broken leg
JOE MARLER is set to complete a remarkable recovery from the broken leg he suffered earlier this month with England coach Eddie Jones expected to name him in his starting line-up to face France next Saturday.
The Harlequins prop’s hopes of featuring in the early stages of the RBS Six Nations appeared bleak when an MRI scan revealed a lower leg fracture sustained in the warm-up before his club’s Premiership clash with Sale on January 7.
Early indications suggested Marler would be sidelined for at least five weeks but the 26-year-old loose- head trained with England in Portugal last week and, barring a late setback, looks certain to be in the starting line-up when Jones names his team on Thursday.
‘Joe has come back, he looks fresh, he looks committed, he looks mentally on song so he is ready to go,’ Jones said. ‘I’m pretty
positive (that he will be fit).’
The prospects do not appear as good for Anthony Watson, who was set to start on the left wing ahead of Jonny May, after the Bath flyer sustained a hamstring injury in training last week.
Watson has had a scan and will find out today the extent of the damage but he looks unlikely to feature against France so Semesa Rokoduguni could come into the squad.
Marler’s return is a huge boost, however. England’s loosehead resources had looked severely stretched with Marler a doubt and first-choice Mako Vunipola expected to miss the majority of the tournament with a knee injury.
Wasps’ Matt Mullan had been expected to start but Marler’s quick recovery means he could be brought straight back into the line-up.
‘Mako grew enormously when in Australia and in the autumn,’ Jones said. ‘He went from a 50-50 choice with Joe to being one of the best looseheads in the world. We are going to miss him but we have got fantastic replacements.’
Marler’s career has been plagued by illdiscipline. He pulled out of the tour to Australia at the end of a season which saw him banned for calling Wales prop Samson Lee a ‘gypsy boy’ before being sent off for kicking an opponent on his return for Harlequins. But Jones added: ‘He has just matured. When something happens to you like that (Samson Lee incident), when you have a child or have something significant in your life you learn from that.’
England start the tournament as favourites despite an injury list which also includes Billy Vunipola, Chris Robshaw and Sam Jones but George Kruis and James Haskell are both in contention again following injury scares.