Jones reports clean bill of health

By Mark Stevens
28/10/19

England boss Eddie Jones believes he will have all 31 players in his squad fit and available for Saturday's Rugby World Cup final against South Africa.

That means Exeter Chiefs trio Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell and Henry Slade, along with the likes Jonny May, Owen Farrell, Kyle Sinckler and Anthony Watson are all expected to return to training tomorrow.

Jones gave his squad the day off in Sunday following their momentous victory over New Zealand in Saturday’s semi-final, before a reduced workload programme was deployed today to enable their walking wounded to fully recover ahead of what will be the biggest game of their lives.

Both May and Farrell are expected to recover from dead legs suffered against the All Blacks, while Jones also confirmed that Sinckler and Watson are set to take part in training on Tuesday ahead of this Saturday’s final against South Africa.

“[We’re looking] pretty good,” Jones said on Monday. “We had a walk through this morning and we had to tell Jonny to slow down a bit. He is probably in better condition that he was last week at this stage. Immeasurably better.

“Owen is a bit sore but he will be fine. We have got a few others carrying bumps and bruises because it was a tough old game.”

Saracens scrum-half Ben Spencer arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning to replace the injured Willi Heinz, who has been forced out of the final with a hamstring injury that left him in tears following the final whistle at the International Stadium Yokohama last weekend.

“It’s tough for Willi, he’s been a great contributor, a very well-liked member of the squad and he was in tears in the dressing room,” Jones added. “It’s tough for him but he’s now collected himself, he now knows he’s got another role to play for us and he’ll fulfil that role really well this week.

“Ben has been in and around the squad consistently for the last couple of years so he knows the game, he knows the players. He is a fit guy and just fits in quite readily. We always said to those guys outside the 31 that they need to be ready, and he is ready to go.”