England suffered a significant dent to their Six Nations Championship preparations last night when the Northampton scrum-half Matt Dawson was ruled out of tomorrow’s Twickenham game against France.
The influential No9 jersey will now be worn by Gloucester’s Andy Gomarsall after Dawson yesterday failed a fitness test on a calf injury having missed all England’s training sessions this week. Sale’s uncapped Nick Walshe has been elevated to the bench.
England’s management team had previously claimed that Dawson’s absence from training was simply precautionary but the head coach Clive Woodward must now put his faith in Gomarsall who has not started a Six Nations game for six years.
However he came very close to being Woodward’s No1 selection in the autumn Tests and, with Kyran Bracken and Nick Duncombe both injured, will be winning his 10th cap in a stop-start Test career dating back to 1996.
“Andy has played a full part in all the sessions this week so we expect the disruption to be minimal,” stressed Woodward last night, trying his best to sooth the nerves of England’s supporters.
Nevertheless, with the prop Phil Vickery already missing, England have now lost two players of Lions stature and will hope that their new midfield structure, featuring Charlie Hodgson alongside Jonny Wilkinson, is not affected by Dawson’s withdrawal. The reshuffle also affects tonight’s England A fixture against France A, with Martyn Wood of Wasps now in the starting line-up.
It was unclear last night whether Dawson’s injury will keep him out of the next Six Nations game against Wales in Cardiff tomorrow week but, either way, England’s much-vaunted strength in depth is already being tested.
France, in contrast, reported an injury-free squad when they arrived in London yesterday. A relaxed French coach Bernard Laporte also said he would be issuing no plans to target either Wilkinson or Hodgson for special treatment at Twickenham, hinting his side were more concerned with their own game than singling out Wilkinson as they did during England’s defeat in Paris last season.
“We know Jonny is a dan gerous player but there is no anti-Wilkinson plan,” said Laporte, in chirpy mood at the team’s Knightsbridge hotel. “We know we must be careful when he gets the ball and come up quickly to put him under pressure, but there are other players we also need to watch.”
Laporte also breezily dismissed Hodgson’s selection at inside-centre as “not very important. We know he’s a fly-half, so he’s probably a very good kicker, but more important is thinking about what France are going to do on the pitch. I think England are the best team in the world and we also recognise it’s very difficult to win at Twickenham. They’ve won 18 successive matches there. I say, bravo.”
With that final generous nod towards his hosts, Laporte led his captain Fabien Galthié and the rest of the squad off to St Paul’s School in Barnes for a training session. The reigning Six Nations champions appear to be in distinctly good heart and the news of Dawson’s misfortune will provide them with even more encouragement in their quest to beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 1997.
