Bath are in no rush to bring back Sam Underhill after the England flanker suffered his fourth concussion in two months against Leinster last weekend.
After treatment, Underhill exited to the dressing rooms for a head injury assessment but he didn’t return to take his place back from his replacement, Josh McNally.
Commenting on the incident for BT Sport, ex-England No8 Lawrence Dallaglio said: “A lot these injuries come from the second or third tackler coming in and it’s Underhill, he gets his head in the wrong place.”
Commentator Alastair Eykyn added: “That is nasty in itself but he has only just come back from concussion problems and it was one of the reasons for his absence from the England Six Nations squad, so this will be a grave concern to club and country.”
Bath boss Stuart Hooper has now confirmed that Underhill won't be returning anytime soon and also revealed the back-rower will be meeting with a specialist this week.
"Repeated concussions mean professional advice must be taken" said Hooper.
"Sam has an important appointment later this week. We will be guided by the experts and we pride ourselves at Bath on always doing right by the player.
“You’re f**ked mate” – Five times Eddie Jones lost his s**t with England players
#1.Dylan Hartley
A knee injury prevented Hartley from travelling to Japan for the 2019 World Cup and effectively ended his England career.
The phone call he received from Eddie Jones was brutal, Hartley revealed.
"You're f***ed mate," Jones told Hartley, despite the hooker's plea for a chance to prove his fitness.
"Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while running on the treadmill, which make the recipient’s balls tighten and the brain melt, this phone call was brutal," writes Hartley in his book.
"He was effectively ending my England career with three words."
Dylan Hartley of England during the Quilter International Match between England and New Zealand at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London on 10th November 2018. - PHOTO: Gareth Davies/PPAUK
Kiwi-born England hooker Dylan Hartley recalled Yarde arriving at England’s Pennyhill base, “a bit bruised and battered” after a club game.
“Eddie greeted him with a bright ‘How are you feeling, mate?’ and the conversation quickly went downhill. ‘Oh, a bit tired.’ ‘F… off, mate.’ ‘What?’ ‘If you’re tired, f… off. I don’t want tired players here.’ As you can imagine, their cosy fireside chat echoed around the halls within minutes.”
Former England start Kyran Bracken was the first person to reveal why the Quins playmaker was mysteriously frozen out of Jones plans in 2018 despite being a regular up until that point.
“He (Care) made the mistake of speaking his mind to Eddie Jones and questioning how he wanted him to play when he was playing with an England ‘B’ team against Japan in the autumn of 2018,” revealed the former England scrum-half.
“Eddie’s response to that was ‘that’s not the f***ing attitude I want’ and he binned him from his plans.”
Brown revealed in his column recently: ‘I’d had one of my best seasons for Quins (2018/19) with really good attacking stats (2019), but Eddie had pigeon-holed me as a defensive full-back. At the end of this meeting, he asked if I had anything I wanted to say.
“I challenged his comments that I was just a defensive full-back, saying I thought I had been adding value to the attack, with examples and stats from my season, before saying I would take away all of his points and that I would do everything I could to get into the World Cup squad.
“He did not like that I had contested what he said and went mad. He shouted: ‘Well you lost the f****** ball in contact on Saturday, didn’t you? That’s f****** not good enough. You’re not f****** doing everything you can.'”
Ultimately, Brown wouldn’t be picked for the Rugby World Cup with Jones saying that his clash with teammate Ben Te’o had nothing to do with his omission. He’s not been picked since.
DID YOU KNOW? He married long term partner, fashion designer Eliza Scarlett Woodcock, the daughter of former England international footballer Tony Woodcock in 2016
Truly worrying times for @BathRugby Sam Underhill. First game since suffering a concussion against Gloucester on Boxing Day and 15 minutes the backrower appears to have suffered a further one making a tackle. Great care needed.
#BATvLEI