England boss Steve Borthwick is anxiously awaiting crucial updates on the condition of his beleaguered squad as they gear up for the 2024 Six Nations following a grueling round of Champions Cup fixtures.
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Despite the disruptive influence of Storm Isha on Sunday evening, the national coach managed to attend the Six Nations launch event in the Irish capital this morning.
Borthwick, who has been diligently gathering information on the well-being of his players following a series of setbacks over the weekend, remains hopeful that the majority of his key players will be fit and ready to take on Italy in Rome on February 3.
However, a few individuals will require thorough assessments before being granted clearance to participate in training at England’s camp in Girona, located in northern Spain.
“We’re still gathering all this information now,” said Borthwick, when asked for an update on the latest situation.
“One of the challenges for the last Six Nations was the reporting systems between club and country aren’t what they should be and aren’t what they’re going to be next year. But nothing has changed from last year to this year.
“Next year, when we have enhanced EPS (hybrid contracts), we will be in a better situation. Right now, we’re dealing with information that we haven’t been aware of as quickly as we want, which is disappointing. But we’ll have to keep doing as well as we possibly can.”
Borthwick added: “Sam Underhill had an ankle injury some weeks ago and he’s recovering very well and was due to be involved a week or so ago,
“He had a small setback that ruled him out of that weekend and subsequent weekend, but he should be fine. There should be no issues, just maybe some slight modifications in Girona in the first week, but he should be fine for the start of the tournament. Ben Curry came off with an ankle yesterday but should be fine to start training.
Ollie Chessum went off with an HIA. He failed HIA one and he passed HIA two immediately post game which means this morning he has HIA three. We’re very optimistic he will be able to go through his return-to-play protocols and should be able to take part (in the Rome opener), depending on his HIA three, which is happening now.
“Joe Marler is good. He came through really well (playing for Harlequins against Ulster) which is excellent. Luke Cowan-Dickie went off and is having an investigation now to where he is at.”
Borthwick added: “Oscar Beard went off with an HIA and the doctor is assessing when his return to play is going to be.
“Manny Feyi-Waboso didn’t play at the weekend. He had a slight… he just wasn’t running at absolute top-end speed so he came out of the game last weekend and is being assessed this morning. I think that is it. When I get an opportunity, I will be on the phone getting updates.”
List of the WORST rugby union stadiums, TWO 2024 Six Nations venues included
LiveRugbyTickets discovered the worst rugby stadiums in the world by analysing more than 15,000 TripAdvisor reviews for 40 different grounds.
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They created their very own index looking into the following four variables across these reviews and gave each a score out of 10:
- Atmosphere
- Cleanliness
- Affordability
- Food
From this, they gave each stadium an overall fan satisfaction score out of 10 before ranking them to identify the best (and worst) rugby stadiums around the world.
Bristol Bears home Ashton Gate was rated the tenth WORST stadium in the world according to these rankings.
Below, we look at the FIVE worst rugby stadiums in the world.
Worst rugby stadiums in the world
#5. Stade de France (Paris, France)
- Capacity: 80,698
- Opened: 1998
- Home to: France
- Cost: €364 million
- DID YOU KNOW? It will host the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics events at the 2024 Summer Olympics