By Charlie Morgan
The Six Nations Championship is just over nine weeks away, will these players recover in time?
Will Stuart
Will Stuart cemented himself in the Summer as England’s number 1 tighthead prop after a good string of games against Australia. Only a knee injury sustained in Bath’s close defeat to Saracens prevented him from starting the Autumn Nations Series tests. A powerful performance off the bench against New Zealand led to him forming part of England’s ‘bomb squad’. A horrible looking elbow injury was sustained after a dominant Springbok scrum, which means Stuart will be “out for some time” according to Bath coach JP Ferreira. An update from Bath ahead of their premiership game against Harlequins, stated that Stuart suffered a dislocated elbow and will be out for at least 8 weeks.
Courtney Lawes
Jones is appears to love playing a talk blindside flanker, or a second row at 6, with a rangy 6 starting 3 of 4 Autumn tests. Lawes is one of the only players who can seamlessly step into this role without compromising speed and carrying ability that has gone missing when Itoje or Coles has stepped in.
A saints coach revealed this week “Courtney hasn’t played for a while but the good news is that he’s back training with us, running around with us and doing some contact bits.
“He’ll be hoping to get back into it in the next couple of weeks.”
Henry Arundell
World Breakthrough Player of the Year nominee, Arundell, has had a blistering first year in international rugby. Becoming the Golden Boy after his England debut, Arundell has suffered a foot injury which kept him out of England’s Autumn Campaign. England haven’t got recognised wingers at the moment, so there is still time for Arundell to make the jersey his. Eddie compared Arundell to the great David Campese following his debut, so Jones will want his man back fit and ready to go. Arundell’s Head Coach at London Irish, Declan Kidney, has revealed Arundell’s foot injury has required surgery and a boot will need to be worn for 6 weeks.
Alfie Barbeary
In September, Barbeary injured his hamstring and was all but ruled out of any rugby for the rest of this calendar year. Jones, an admirer of Barbeary, will hope that Barbeary will return from injury soon and revert back to his destructive best with new club, Bath. If Barbeary can find his form, he will be a strong contender to the Number 8 shirt, a position England are looking weak in at the moment. Bath have confirmed Barbeary will be back this season, but Somerset Live have given a due date of end of January.
Kyle Sinckler
One of England’s weakest positions is tighthead prop, with Dan Cole, Harry Williams, and Joe Heyes falling out of favour thanks to the constant that is Kyle Sinckler and the emergence of Will Stuart. Sinckler has been trying to find his best form at Bristol Bears but Jones will be hoping Sinckler’s knock against South Africa won’t be keeping out of action for long, as England are thin on the ground in this position and can’t afford to lose a player of Sinckler’s class.