England rocked as Vunipola suffers Six Nations finale KO
ENGLAND rugby coach Stuart Lancaster rued a major blow to his hopes of winning a first Six Nations title last night after No8 Billy Vunipola was ruled out for the remainder of the championship.
Scans taken yesterday afternoon revealed ligament damage to Vunipola’s ankle, which the Saracens forward hurt during Saturday’s hard-fought 13-10 triumph over Ireland at Twickenham.
Lancaster has indicated that there are currently no plans to call up a replacement, meaning Ben Morgan looks likely to start England’s fourth fixture, at home to Wales on 9 March, with his Gloucester team-mate Matt Kvesic and Exeter’s Tom Johnson acting as back-up.
“It’s a blow as Billy has had a good Six Nations but he is young and will be back,” said Lancaster. “Encouragingly we’ve got Ben Morgan and other back rows such as Matt Kvesic and Tom Johnson competing hard for places.”
Vunipola’s is the latest injury to beset Lancaster’s bid to win the Six Nations at his third attempt, with regulars Manu Tuilagi, Tom Croft, Alex Corbisiero and Geoff Parling all long-term absentees.
Yet a callow England have impressed with their response to a narrow defeat in France in the tournament opener to beat Scotland at Murrayfield and then end Ireland’s grand slam ambitions.
It has left them in a four-way fight for the title with Ireland, France and Wales, and with the latter, who pipped England to glory last year, next to visit Twickenham.
France’s hopes of claiming a first championship since 2010 also suffered a severe setback yesterday when it emerged that influential centre Wesley Fofana is likely to miss the conclusion of the competition with a fractured rib.
Fofana, who scored a try in France’s second-round win over Italy, suffered the injury during Friday’s 27-6 defeat against Wales. The 26-year-old is definitely out of the trip to Edinburgh on 8 March and is a major doubt for the visit of Ireland in the final round.
His club Clermont Auvergne confirmed: “Wesley Fofana suffered a fracture of the 11th rib and will be unavailable for a period of at least three to four weeks, meaning a probable end of the tournament.”
Ireland fear flanker Peter O’Mahony could miss their next fixture, at home to Italy, with a hamstring injury picked up against England.
Centre Brian O’Driscoll is expected to shake off a knock to win a world record 140th Test cap at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday week.
FIXTURES
Round Four
Ireland v Italy, 8 March, 2:30pm
Scotland v France, 8 March, 5pm
England v Wales, 9 March, 3pm
Round Five
Italy v England, 15 March, 1:30pm
Wales v Scotland, 15 March, 2:45pm
France v Ireland, 15 March, 6pm