England star's misery continues
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: England star Courtney Lawes has been ruled out of his side’s Six Nations match against France.
The Northampton Saints forward will miss the remaining Rounds of the Six Nations due to a shoulder injury.
Lawes’ latest setback extends a miserable run of injuries that have seen him sidelined with concussion, neck, glute and calf problems this season.
The 34-year-old only made his England comeback as a final-quarter replacement in the 20-10 victory over Wales in round four but those 12 minutes will be his only game time in this tournament.
Meanwhile, Marcus Smith has been recalled, beating George Ford for a spot in the 27-man squad.
Having started against Scotland in round one and then being limited to brief cameos off the bench for Italy and Wales, he was released to play for Harlequins against Exeter Chiefs while Ford remained in the England camp.
However, a man-of-the-match display against the Exeter Chiefs on Saturday underlined his star quality and the 80 minutes have been good enough to get him the nod over Ford, who returns to Sale sharks to accumulate more game time as he finds his way back from an Achilles problem.
Manu Tuilagi has been included in a 27-man training squad that will continue preparations to face the current Grand Slam champions although he is unavailable as he completes a ban for dangerous play. Instead, his role in camp has been to act as an opposition player during training and he will come into contention once again for the climax of the tournament against Ireland.
Wing Max Malins has recovered from an ankle injury that troubled him during last week’s Brighton training camp.
England 27-man squad:
Forwards: Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Ben Curry, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Nick Isiekwe, Maro Itoje, Lewis Ludlam, David Ribbans, Kyle Sinckler, Mako Vunipola, Jack Walker, Jack Willis.
Backs: Henry Arundell, Owen Farrell, Ollie Lawrence, Max Malins, Joe Marchant, Alex Mitchell, Henry Slade, Marcus Smith, Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi, Jack van Poortvliet Anthony Watson.
*Additional source: Rugbypass
