Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry have been laid low by injury and England are now focused on ensuring they will be fit for next year’s Rugby World Cup; Kevin Sinfield also addressed the report that came out that said there was a squad rift in England Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry will be carefully managed between now and the World Cup as England look to give two key personnel the best possible chance of being available for the tournament. Feyi-Waboso will miss the rest of the autumn because of an ankle injury sustained in Sunday’s 44-22 mauling of Australia, robbing England of their most dangerous attacking threat. British and Irish Lions flanker Curry will sit out all four Nations Championship matches at Allianz Stadium this month after aggravating a long-standing hip condition in training last week. Both players will travel to next year’s World Cup in Australia if fit, but have concerning injury records that paint an uncertain picture over their involvement.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Under the current agreement between England and the Prem clubs, head coach Steve Borthwick now has greater control over the 25 members of his elite player squad, including final say on workload and medical matters. “The best high-performance environments have the right amount of care and the right amount of challenge,” assistant coach Sir Kevin Sinfield said. “How Tom’s managed, looked after and supported over this next period of time will be really important for him. “He’s still a young man and we’re a better squad when he’s around.
He’s a world-class player. “The agreement that’s in place hopefully will ensure brilliant collaboration between club and country so that Tom plays for a long, long time, and he can be at his very best when he’s in and out of camp. “Manny’s had a run of injuries now and hopefully that can be the last one for some time. I think it’s because of the nature of how he’s put together – he’s that powerful.
“What you tend to find is players either get a load of injuries at the start of their careers or get them towards the back end. “Hopefully we can get him fully fit for a long period of time and Exeter get to see the best of him too. Again the collaboration is going to be really important for us.” Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Feyi-Waboso’s unique ability to beat defenders was on full display at Twickenham against the Wallabies on Sunday and Sinfield described his performance as “world class”, adding “he’s our Jason Robinson” in reference to the cross-code great. His absence creates a vacancy on the wing for Saturday’s Test against Japan and whoever is selected will be instructed to play to their own strengths.
“There aren’t many Mannys kicking around, so to go like-for-like is difficult,” Sinfield said. “We can’t ask somebody to come in and play like Manny, but we can ask them to come in and bring the best of themselves.” Gloucester’s in-form outside back Will Joseph is one of the players looking to fill his boots and Sinfield insists the younger brother of former England and British and Irish Lion Jonathan, is ready to take his chance if selected. “What a player he is,” Sinfield said. “He beats people.
He’s got great balance. He’s a good defender with unbelievable power and speed off the mark. “He’s a special player. Some of the bits he’s done in training have been ‘wow’ moments.
He can play.” Sinfield also addressed England’s strong performance against Australia following a report which garnered a lot of attention. The Times reported some England players lost faith in Borthwick during a summer campaign which included a 45-21 defeat to world champions South Africa and a nervy win over Argentina. It is alleged players objected to Borthwick’s treatment of them, that he was involved in a training ground bust-up with Ellis Genge and that they wanted RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney – who this week unequivocally backed the head coach – to listen to their gripes. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Both Borthwick and captain Maro Itoje rejected the claims following the win over Australia, Jamie George said England’s players were “hurt” by the report, and Sinfield agrees that England were “committed” and kept out the “outside noise”.
However, he is wary to give the report too much credit when it comes to how England played. “The performance was important,” Sinfield said. “I thought the lads showed how committed and determined they were and showed how together they are. “There was some outside noise at the back end of the week.
I thought Steve handled it really well. It was really nice to see a full Twickenham on Sunday afternoon, who were pretty happy come the 80th minute. “I have been impressed by our senior players all the way through. “I’ve been here four years now.
I think the credibility we give that article and the noise, if we’re suggesting that the performance was just down to that, it’s unfair on the lads. It’s unfair on everybody who’s involved with this team. “There’s been a lot of work over a period of time of pushing our performances and trying to get better and better. I thought they did a great job of that on weekend.
The challenge for us is to do it again this week, to try and come out.”
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