England’s plans for the autumn series have been plunged into chaos after Mako Vunipola was ruled out for up to six weeks. He joins his brother Billy on the sidelines and swells the ranks of England’s walking wounded as Eddie Jones prepares to name his squad for Tests against South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia on Thursday.
Without both Vunipola brothers, Jones’s squad are significantly underpowered but the problem is all the more acute considering the dearth of alternatives. With Saracens confirming Mako Vunipola has sustained a calf tear, Jones will name a 36-man squad without any senior options at loosehead prop following Joe Marler’s international retirement.
Matt Mullan and Ellis Genge are also injured, meaning the Exeter duo of Alec Hepburn and Ben Moon, as well as Gloucester’s Val Rapava Ruskin, are the most likely to be included. Not one of them has an international start to speak of and only Hepburn has a Test appearance to his name as a replacement.
As far as his back-row headache goes, Jones was on Wednesday waiting on the availability of Nathan Hughes, who faced his second disciplinary hearing in the space of a week. Exeter’s Sam Simmonds is a long-term injury absentee while Chris Robshaw was ruled out of the autumn series after knee surgery on Tuesday.
Compounding matters for England, Nick Isiekwe is another casualty from Saracens’ bruising win against Glasgow – both Vunipola brother’s sustained their injuries against the Warriors – and is out for eight weeks with an ankle injury. With Joe Launchbury and Jonny Hill also injured, Jones’s second-row options are also all of a sudden depleted.
“Nick just goes for a ball gets into an unfortunate position,” the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, said. “It’s a tear in [Mako’s] calf. It’s just a soft-tissue injury. It looks like it’s going to be around six weeks.”
Neither Mako nor Billy played in England’s most recent Test, the third of the series against the Springboks in June but, while the latter has been a frequent absentee amid a torrid run of injuries, the former has been a mainstay of Jones’s side. He started all five of England’s Six Nations matches, and twice last autumn after all three British & Irish Lions Tests and there will be a school of thought that Mako’s injury setback was inevitable considering the amount of rugby he has played over the past couple of years.
Indeed, Saracens escaped punishment in April when the loosehead played against Bath despite terms of the agreement between the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby stated he needed to be rested. It was surprise he was not among the senior players Jones chose to rest for the tour of South Africa and if there is any solace to be taken from his autumn absence it is that the time off may freshen him up.
If there was anything positive for Jones on Wednesday it came in the news that Alex Lozowski’s ban for dangerously entering a ruck for Saracens against Glasgow is only two weeks. It rules him out of Saracens’ Champions Cup match against Lyon this weekend but means he is available for the autumn campaign. It may also indirectly affect whether Danny Cipriani is included in Jones’s 36-man squad.
Apart from Dan Robson and Marland Yarde, Jones’s backline has been largely unaffected by injuries this season – Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph were already long‑term absentees – but had Lozowski been unavailable, a space may have opened up for Cipriani. Jones has also been boosted by Ben Te’o’s imminent return to action for Worcester and it would be a surprise if either Manu Tuilagi or Chris Ashton is left out.
Jones’s forwards pack have been decimated, meaning fringe players such as Don Armand, Mark Wilson and those out of favour recently including James Haskell and Sam Underhill will all be hoping for a call-up. In the second row, without Launchbury or Isiekwe, one of the Bath pair of Charlie Ewels and Dave Attwood will hope for the nod. Courtney Lawes has missed Northampton’s last two matches but is in contention to return this weekend.