England are still awaiting news on the availability of key individuals as the head coach, Steve Borthwick, prepares to unveil a 36-man-squad for the Autumn Nations Series next month.
His first-choice scrum-half, Alex Mitchell, looks likely to be out for several more weeks while the latter’s Northampton teammate Fraser Dingwall aggravated a knee problem at England training last week and will also miss his club’s game against Sale on Friday night.
Borthwick has received slightly better news from Sale, who say George Ford should be back on the training field next week, and that Tom Curry is fit and raring to go before the national side’s upcoming warm weather camp in Spain. Northampton’s director of rugby, Phil Dowson, however, says there is still no confirmed date for Mitchell’s return to action from a neck injury.
“He’s had an injection and we’re waiting to see how effective that has been,” Dowson said. “There are a lot of questions around it. People are reticent to do anything more invasive so a conservative approach is the best approach. Unfortunately, that’s one without a timeline so we’re sat on our hands waiting to see how he is.
“He is improving but he’s improving very slowly. It’s about how we can accelerate that process without risking anything from a long term point of view. I can’t see [the injury] turning around in the short term. He’s a bit frustrated but we want to make sure we do the right thing by him.”
Dingwall, a contender to feature in England’s starting midfield, has been nursing a knee issue for a couple of weeks while a third Saint in the national reckoning, Alex Coles, is recovering from a rib injury. On the plus side Sale’s director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, has issued a more positive update on Ford and Curry, both of whom have had an injury-disrupted start to the season.
The 31-year-old Ford tweaked a quad muscle against Saracens last month and has spent more time in the Sharks’ coaching box than on the field in recent weeks. Sanderson, though, estimates Ford is still 10 days away from being able to resume playing, which means the fly-half will not have had any competitive rugby for a month when England select their side to face New Zealand on 2 November.
Curry, however, topped the Sharks’ tackle count in last week’s win over Newcastle and is eager to get stuck in again against Northampton. Sanderson said: “Tom Curry is back! He seems in a really good state of mind. I was talking to Tom and he said to me: ‘I felt like I was 18 again.’ We’ve been working on freeing him up and I feel like we’ve got there.”
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The injured Wales captain, Dafydd Jenkins, meanwhile, has confirmed he will sit out his country’s entire autumn schedule but is aiming to return for his club Exeter before Christmas. Jenkins also says he is opposed to proposals to introduce a 20-minute red card rather than a permanent sanction when players are dismissed for dangerous or reckless head contact.
“The only way I can look at it is it probably devalues the red card,” Jenkins said. “I think we’re trying to change rugby so much. There’s no point changing things that don’t need to be changed.”