Former Bull added to England squad
TEAM UPDATE: Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations preparations have suffered another hiccup as Nick Isiekwe has become the fourth player to drop out of the England squad this week ahead of the February 3 campaign opener away to Italy.
Last week, Rugby Football Union (RFU) confirmed that three players – Bath’s Ollie Lawrence, Harlequins’ Oscar Beard and Sale’s Luke Cowan-Dickie – had been forced to pull out of the originally 36-men squad due to injuries sustained in last weekend’s Champions Cup.
They were replaced by Bath duo Max Ojomoh and Will Muir, along with Newcastle Falcons’ Jamie Blamire.
And now RFU revealed that Nick Isiekwe will return home from the camp in Spain due to illness.
Isiekwe will be replaced by Charlie Ewels, who will arrive at England’s training base in Girona on Friday.
England last capped the 28-year-old lock in March 2022 when he was sent off just 82 seconds into the Twickenham Six Nations defeat by Ireland.
He subsequently suffered an ACL injury and having spent some time on loan at the Pretoria-based Bulls last year to get some comeback game time, he has since been restored to the Bath line-up under Johann van Graan, starting in a dozen of his 13 appearances this season.
The official RFU statement read: “Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) has been called into the England men’s Six Nations training squad to replace Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), who has returned home because of illness.
“Ewels will arrive at England’s training base in Girona later today.”
*Additional source: Rugbypass
