INTERNATIONAL NEWS:THE CEILING has not yet fallen in but significant cracks are starting to show in Martin Johnson's previously solid Six Nations masterplan.
To lose one key forward might be considered a minor irritation but England have now lost three of their foundation stones following news that Lewis Moody will be kept out for up to six weeks by the knee injury he sustained playing for Bath against Aironi last Saturday.
Moody has captained England in six of their past seven Tests and would have led the team out against Wales in Cardiff on February 4th. Now, along with Tom Croft and Courtney Lawes, he will miss at least the first half of the championship after a scan revealed a strained medial ligament. He may struggle to feature before the penultimate game, at home to Scotland on March 13th.
It will be a considerable surprise if the armband does not pass to Nick Easter, the Harlequins number eight, who did the job successfully against Samoa in November. He is, apart from anything else, guaranteed his place in the starting XV and will not be fazed by the prospect of leading the team out at the Millennium Stadium, where England have not won since 2003. Easter may not be the quickest but, like Dean Richards, tends to turn up in the right place at the right time.
In the absence of Moody, though, Johnson has issues with the balance of his pack. His mind is bound to spool back to Cardiff two years ago when Joe Worsley played on the openside flank and did a specific job on Jamie Roberts in the Welsh midfield. With James Haskell itching for another chance on the blindside, a Haskell-Easter-Worsley triumvirate would represent the least possible disruption from the management’s point of view.
It would, equally, indicate Johnson does not wholly trust some of his other fringe candidates. Among his options would be to install Hendre Fourie at openside. Fourie is more of a ball-carrier than Worsley; in the absence of Croft and Lawes, England desperately need forwards who are that way inclined. The bolder selection would be to pick Northampton’s Tom Wood or Phil Dowson – or even both – while the names of Chris Robshaw, Steffon Armitage, James Gaskell and Andy Saull will also be discussed. Given the importance of getting a result, however, Johnson is more likely to err on the side of experience.
“It is always disappointing to lose a player and leader of Lewis’s calibre but as I have consistently said good teams adapt to injuries and that is what we intend to do,” Johnson said yesterday.
With Steve Borthwick also out for four weeks and Dave Attwood suspended, the chances of Leicester’s George Skivington being promoted to the senior squad as secondrow cover also appear to be rising as Johnson waits to discover if any more casualties emerge. He is due to declare his hand next Monday, after the final round of Heineken Cup matches, by which time England will have decamped to the Algarve for a training get-together.
Johnson’s only consolation is that Wales are enduring equally glum medical bulletins. Their first-choice tighthead, Adam Jones, a stalwart of the 2009 British and Irish Lions, will miss at least the first month of the Six Nations with damaged elbow ligaments, a further setback for coach Warren Gatland, who is already lacking Gethin Jenkins, Andrew Bishop, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, the suspended Richie Rees and George North. Gatland has not been able to select his first-choice side, because of injury, since winning the grand slam in 2008.
“Adam Jones is the cornerstone of the pack,” said the former Wales and Lions tighthead, Graham Price. “There is nobody waiting in the wings and without him we will struggle up front.”
- Guardian Service
