As a magnet for bad news, the England squad is becoming a considerable force. That Phil Vickery, the captain, was handed the expected two-match ban yesterday was bad enough, though overshadowed by the hip flexor injury to Olly Barkley, England’s pivotal player, who was taken to hospital for a scan that will indicate today whether he is unavailable for the titanic fixture against South Africa on Friday.
With their two No 10s on the injury list, this England team have about them more than a whiff of Monty Python’s Black Knight. How many more limbs can they lose? And yet they march bravely on.
Exactly who will be doing the marching, though, remains a mystery. When Brian Ashton named his team yesterday, the uncertainties were summed up by the entry at No 22, TBA (to be announced), which could be filled by any number of names. It could be Mathew Tait or, less likely, Dan Hipkiss, both of whom have been ill and in isolation since the weekend.
It could open the door for the unlikely return of Jonny Wilkinson, who was not named in the squad but whose ankle survived a kicking session yesterday, or maybe even Toby Flood to be flown in from Newcastle.
Ashton’s starting XV reflected the poor performance against the United States with the casualties, Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley and Mark Cueto, making way for Nick Easter, Martin Corry and Paul Sackey, who will play on the left wing with Jason Robinson moving to full back.
A further amendment was required yesterday evening when Vickery fell foul of his citing hearing. The England management were last night considering lodging an appeal against the decision that followed his kick and trip on Paul Emerick, the United States centre, in Lens on Saturday but, for the moment, Matt Stevens is the tight-head prop and the captaincy remains unbestowed.
Ashton preferred not to admit that Dallaglio had been dropped after his unconvincing display against the United States. Though if you have a talismanic big-game player such as Dallaglio and he does not even make the 22 for England’s biggest game since the World Cup final, then alternative interpretations barely figure.
Ashton did explain that Corry’s inclusion over Worsley was a nod to the importance of the lineout on Friday. And he acknowledged, too, that Cueto, who is also not in the 22, had “struggled to find his form”, possibly, he said, because of a groin niggle.
However, for a day at least, England’s whopping toll of poor fortune made their poor form a side issue. Ashton was asked yesterday if this World Cup campaign was already his worst nightmare. The head coach insisted that it was not, though he surely could not have dreamed up worse news than being Wilko-less and then losing Barkley. We cannot even apply Oscar Wilde here; to lose two No 10s may smack of carelessness, but as Ashton observed - his frustration finding expression in a rare shaft of humour - the Barkley injury was another case of pure bad luck.
“As usual with England injuries,” Ashton said, “there was no one anywhere near him. It would be nice to think someone was on the floor and ten people were kicking the hell out of him. But they weren’t.”
The option of Wilkinson making a dramatic last-minute return is fanciful, though not completely ruled out. However, a measure of the disarray was that Ashton was unable to discuss the various permutations left at his disposal. “We’re talking complete speculation here,” was all he could say.
And indeed we are, though it seems that in Barkley’s absence, Mike Catt would move to fly half and Andy Farrell would come in as No 12 and first-choice kicker.
Consider the facts here, though: Catt will be 36 on Sunday and his last international start at No 10 was in the game against Wales in 1999, since when the venue for that match, Wembley, has been knocked down and rebuilt. And Farrell has not stood over a goalkick of note since captaining Great Britain in a rugby league international against Australia at Elland Road nearly three years ago.
Who on earth would be the reserve kicker behind Farrell? The mind boggles, though the situation does, of course, cry out for Flood, who made a fairly decent fist of both jobs – fly half and placekicker – at the latter end of the RBS Six Nations Championship but was left out of the party.
For Flood to be called up, though, another man would have to go home and have their departure signed off by the tournament medical officer. And for Flood to be available for Friday’s match at the Stade de France in Paris, the rules state that he must be in the country 48 hours before the game. That leaves Ashton until 9 o’clock tonight to complete any reshuffle.
England: J Robinson (unattached); J Lewsey (London Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle Falcons), M Catt (London Irish), P Sackey (London Wasps); O Barkley (Bath), S Perry (Bristol); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Regan (Bristol), M Stevens (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), B Kay (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester), T Rees (London Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), P Freshwater (Perpignan), S Borthwick (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), A Gomarsall (Harlequins), A Farrell (Saracens), A N Other. South Africa squad: Backs: P Montgomery, J P Pietersen, J Fourie, F Steyn, W Olivier, B Habana, A James, A Pretorius, F du Preez, R Pienaar. Forwards: J du Randt, C J van der Linde, B J Botha, J Smit, B du Plessis, J Botha, V Matfield, J Muller, S Burger, J Smith, D Rossouw, W van Heerden.
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