England suffer setback over Dylan Hartley before tour of New Zealand
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Version 0 of 1. England look increasingly likely to be without the Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley for next month's tour of New Zealand but are more optimistic about the prospects of Mike Brown and Billy Twelvetrees being fit to play key roles against the All Blacks next month. Hartley's shoulder injury is not responding as swiftly as hoped and a final decision on his participation is likely to be made over the weekend. The head coach, Stuart Lancaster, in contrast, is hopeful Brown will recover from the upper-leg injury that forced him out of Saturday's Premiership semi-final between Harlequins and Saracens. "We're quite optimistic that he will be training next week," said Lancaster. "I don't think there will be any concern over him going into the first Test." Twelvetrees, who has an ankle injury, and the Bath hooker Rob Webber, who has a knee problem, are also said to making "good progress" and, as things stand, are expected to be on the plane when England fly out on 27 May. Lancaster has not ruled out either man from the first Test on 7 June, despite the fact Webber has played very little rugby for Bath this season. Harlequins' Dave Ward remains in the frame but Lancaster has also called up two more Quins, Joe Gray and Rob Buchanan, to training this week as a precaution. "With Tom Youngs, Dylan and David Paice out of the equation and if Dylan isn't going to be fit and Webber is 50‑50, there will definitely be an opportunity for a hooker without much experience," admitted Lancaster, who has added a further 21 players to the 20 names he announced last week before the tour and England's second-string game against the Barbarians. It still remains a desperately awkward period for the national management, particularly if there are further injuries. Lancaster cannot take too many players to New Zealand for risk of them spending three weeks without playing but he also needs sufficient cover for all eventualities. "It'll be a challenge but the wider message to the players will be that the team comes first," he said, suggesting the side would be adopting a "Lions mentality" in terms of thriving in adversity. "This is about developing a wider group of players and a sense of depth in the squad in the lead-up to a World Cup." Lancaster will also have another word to his players about their behaviour after Chris Ashton was reprimanded and warned about his future conduct by the Rugby Football Union for shouting "push it" at Harlequins' Nick Evans as the latter was attempting a conversion on Saturday. "We want to finish the tour in a positive light and as good ambassadors for the country," said the England head coach. "We need to make sure we're reflecting the core values of the game." England training squad additions A Allen (Leicester Tigers), M Brown (Harlequins), R Buchanan (Harlequins), D Care (Harlequins), W Collier (Harlequins), J Gaskell (Sale), J Gibson (Leicester Tigers), J Gray (Harlequins), R Harrison (Sale), G Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), J Marler (Harlequins), C Matthews (Harlequins), G Parling (Leicester Tigers), C Robshaw (Harlequins), E Slater (Leicester Tigers), K Sinckler (Harlequins), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), L Wallace (Harlequins), D Ward (Harlequins), R Webber (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers). |