- George withdrew from the squad after damaging his hamstring with Saracens
- However, he’s made a swift recovery and been included in England’s squad
England have recalled Jamie George to their Six Nations squad to prepare for the daunting clash with France at Twickenham on Saturday – after the former captain made a rapid recovery from injury.
The 34-year-old Saracens hooker withdrew from the squad ahead of the championship opener with Ireland, after damaging a hamstring in his club’s Champions Cup defeat against Castres. However, Steve Borthwick said that George ‘is a fast healer and he is going to get back asap’, and his optimism turned out to be well-founded.
On Sunday night, the head coach named the experienced Lion in a revised squad to train for Le Crunch, while Sale scrum-half Raffi Quirke and uncapped Gloucester lock Arthur Clark have been ruled out after suffering injuries while training in Girona.
The return of vice-captain George boosts England’s leadership stocks as they seek a response to the 27-22 defeat against Ireland – and he will compete against Luke Cowan-Dickie to claim the starting No 2 shirt.
One positive aftermath of the loss in Dublin is that the vanquished visitors didn’t suffer any further medical setbacks among their match-day 23 and there have been no citings to leave a disciplinary cloud over the national squad.
However, they once again find themselves with backs to the wall after slumping from a strong position to a seventh defeat in their last nine Tests.
England have recalled former captain Jamie George ahead of their clash against France
The 34-year-old Saracens hooker withdrew from the squad ahead of the opener with Ireland
Ben Earl, England’s No 8, said: ‘There’s no hiding away – we’re here to win. But at the same time, we had players who were playing for the first time and players who haven’t been in the squad for a while. So, there’s context to this. There’s new leadership. That’s not to make excuses, but I think you could see how we could have won that game.
‘That’s been the same for a number of different fixtures over the last like eight or nine, but at some point – and I know I keep saying this – the dam will break and we’ll start winning them. Then this whole narrative changes.
‘We’ve been through a lot of hurt together. There’s no denying that we’re trying to give our all. It’s never been for a lack of effort. I trust in Steve, I trust in the players. The dam will break and we’ll start getting momentum. We just need to get one. We’ll keep turning up. We’re not disheartened.
‘No-one wants to talk about us losing, no-one. You can either choose to just say, “This is rubbish”, and let it chip away at your mindset next week – and we’ve still got another four games to play. Or, we can say, “Let’s try and use it in the right way, to grow as a team”.’
France will be without first-choice fly-half Romain Ntamack for the match against England, after the Toulouse No 10 was sent off for a high tackle in his side’s 43-0 win against Wales.
Ntamack is due to appear at a disciplinary hearing either tomorrow or Wednesday. But Fabien Galthie has been able to recall prolific Bordeaux wing Damian Penaud and has the option of installing his club-mate, Matthieu Jalibert – a precocious attacking talent – in the place vacated by Ntamack.
