The chances of Maro Itoje touring with England this summer continue to diminish after the national captain was left out of Steve Borthwick’s latest June training squad. It is understood England would ideally like to give Itoje a rest barring a sudden rush of injuries which affects the number of other second row candidates available to Borthwick.
Despite his club Saracens having failed to make the Prem play-offs, Itoje is not among the 26 players gathered in Bagshot to prepare for a fixture between an England XV and a France XV in Vannes on Friday week. Other senior players including Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Curry are involved, however, alongside uncapped hopefuls such as Gloucester’s Afolabi Fasogbon and Ben Redshaw and the Bristol centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg.
Borthwick has previously indicated that Itoje’s availability was an “ongoing conversation” with England not due to confirm their full squad until June 22. By that stage Borthwick will have access to all the players currently involved in the Prem play-offs and will know precisely what the wider injury landscape looks like.
The availability of Exeter’s Manny Feyi-Waboso should also be clearer following the winger’s latest injury setback. Feyi-Waboso had an operation last week to insert a plate in his jaw following a collision in the game against Leicester but the Chiefs and England are both hopeful he will be able to return to a rugby field sooner rather than later.
“It’s an an assessment almost on a weekly basis,” said Baxter. “He’s not available this weekend but I’d imagine there’ll be an assessment next week to see where he is. He knew he’d picked up a bang but he thought he’d just loosened a tooth. It was only when we had the X-rays done that it came out. When you run quick you’re going to run into things hard, aren’t you? He’s just been incredibly unfortunate.”
England will ultimately have the final say on Feyi-Waboso’s return date under the terms of the club-country deal regarding centrally contracted players but Baxter insists the player’s welfare will come first. “He will not be rushed back into any match situation. We’ve been given various scenarios … could it be stable enough after two, three or four weeks? It’ll all get agreed with the surgeon who’s done the operation. It won’t come down to me saying, ‘I want Manny this weekend.’ He’ll either be made available or he won’t.”
Scotland, meanwhile, have omitted the Toulouse-based Blair Kinghorn and fellow senior squad members Huw Jones and Grant Gilchrist from their 36-man Nations Championship squad for the July games against Argentina, South Africa and Fiji.
England training squad – Forwards Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Ben Earl (Saracens), Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester), Jamie George (Saracens), Will Hobson (Harlequins), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Nathan Jibulu (Sale), Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), George Kloska (Bristol), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Hugh Tizard (Saracens).
Backs Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester), Seb Atkinson (Gloucester), Noah Caluori (Saracens), Tobias Elliott (Saracens), George Ford (Sale), Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Harry Randall (Bristol Bears), Ben Redshaw (Gloucester), Tom Roebuck (Sale), Marcus Smith (Harlequins).
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