Steve Borthwick has named his 26-man Six Nations squad for England's meeting with Wales on Saturday; Courtney Lawes returns with Tom Curry and George Ford cut from the panel; Curry will miss the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury
Wednesday 22 February 2023 16:53, UK
Tom Curry has been ruled out of the remainder of the Six Nations with a new hamstring injury, with Courtney Lawes named in Steve Borthwick's 26-man squad for England's game against Wales on Saturday.
Curry was poised to make his first international appearance since the autumn having recovered from a torn hamstring, but has been forced to withdraw from the reduced 26-man squad named by Borthwick.
The Sale flanker's twin brother Ben has been drafted in as his replacement but there is no place in the squad for back row Ben Earl, who made an impact off the bench against Scotland and Italy.
Since the squad announcement, it has been confirmed by Sale boss Alex Sanderson that Curry will be out for four weeks, once again with a hamstring injury but this time on the other leg.
"It's a grade 2C hamstring injury on the opposite side to the one that he did six weeks ago, said Sanderson.
"It's a soft muscle injury that extends into the tendon. It's four to six weeks."
Vice-captain Lawes has yet to feature in England's campaign due to a calf injury sustained in Northampton's 31-13 defeat to La Rochelle in the Heineken Champions Cup in January. Lawes has been receiving treatment in camp in the hope of facing Wales, last donning the England jersey when he was captain during the July tour of Australia.
However, Ford, who was also called up earlier this week after making his Gallagher Premiership return from an achilles injury also misses out alongside Ben Youngs, who has been dropped again after missing England's home win over Italy.
The uncapped Cadan Murley is still in line for a potential debut after being retained.
Manu Tuilagi's hopes of representing England in this year's tournament are not yet over despite a red card while on club duty for Sale Sharks in their 38-34 defeat to Northampton Saints on Saturday, although the centre has not been named by Borthwick for Saturday's contest in Cardiff.
Tuilagi has since accepted foul play and been handed a four-match ban which will be reduced to three weeks if the player completes the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme, which would make him available for England's last Six Nations match against Ireland on March 18.
It was teased earlier this week that Lawes could make his return, with coach Richard Cockerill saying there would be "no concern" over picking the England star.
"Courtney has done parts of training this week. He'll take full part tomorrow (Thursday) and next week he should be taking full part in training. Hopefully he'll be available for selection," Cockerill said.
"He's an experienced player and he's had long injuries previously and come back in and played well, for both club and country. So that doesn't really concern us when it comes to a guy of his stature."
Despite Borthwick naming his squad, there are still doubts about whether the game will go ahead, with Wales head coach Warren Gatland postponing his squad announcement as the threat of a player strike continues.
When asked if he sympathised with the predicament of Welsh players, captain Owen Farrell said: "From what I've heard, yeah. I know quite a lot of them and I'm sure they're not being unreasonable with what they're asking for. I don't think they're like that.
"Then again, I don't know the other side of it. To be in this situation is obviously not very pleasing for them, but I'm sure they will get it sorted. I'm sure that anyone who is going through a bit of adversity tries to use it to bring themselves closer together.
"As I've said before about this game, going down to Cardiff and playing in front of a packed house at the Principality is always a massive challenge and we're expecting that at the weekend."
Forwards: Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 97 caps), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks, 2 caps), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 11 caps), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 45 caps), Jamie George (Saracens, 74 caps), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 10 caps), Maro Itoje (Saracens, 64 caps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 96 caps), Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 16 caps), Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 58 caps), Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 76 caps), Jack Walker (Harlequins, 1 cap), Jack Willis (Toulouse, 7 caps).
Backs: Henry Arundell (London Irish, 4 caps), Owen Farrell (Saracens, 103 caps), Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 9 caps), Max Malins (Saracens, 16 caps), Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 14 caps), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 2 caps), Cadan Murley (Harlequins, uncapped), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 53 caps), Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 19 caps), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 19 caps), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 9 caps), Anthony Watson (Leicester Tigers, 52 caps).
