England summon five injury replacements ahead of Six Nations opener with Jamie George and Alex Dombrant out of squad

rugby-union Wednesday 22 January 2025 08:17, UK

England have called in five replacements for injured players to join the squad ahead of their Six Nations opener against Ireland on February 1.

England will begin their campaign against the defending champions in Dublin, an assignment made all the harder with additional injuries to five players, including forwards Jamie George and Alex Dombrandt.

Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints) and Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks) will all join the squad as England's preparations begin on Tuesday at the team's training base in Girona, Spain.

The five new players replace Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers) and Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), as well as George (Saracens) and Dombrandt (Harlequins), all of whom sustained injuries while playing for their clubs over the weekend.

Mitchell is a doubt for the first Six Nations match but will travel with the squad to Girona to continue his rehabilitation.

George had been replaced as England captain by club team-mate Maro Itoje when Steve Borthwick named his Six Nations squad, he then suffered a hamstring injury late in Saracens' 32-24 Champions Cup defeat by Castres and has been ruled of playing in the first Six Nations weekend.

Sky Sports News' James Cole...

"There are a number of significant injuries in this latest squad update, not least Jamie George. Just a week after being relieved of the captaincy he picked up a hamstring injury playing for Saracens and is now set to miss England's Six Nations opener in Dublin a week on Saturday.

"George will be a big loss both on and off the field, his experience and leadership will be missed in what is a relatively young, evolving team, and it means new skipper Maro Itoje will be without a very reliable lieutenant.

"England do have a lot of depth at hooker and what this means is Luke Cowan-Dickie is in pole position to start in Dublin.

"There are also issues at scrum-half. Leicester's Jack van Poortvliet has withdrawn from the squad, while Northampton's Alex Mitchell is a doubt.

"Were Mitchell not to be fit for Dublin, he would be a huge loss. They missed him during the autumn and he's been England's first-choice scrum-half since the World Cup just over a year ago.

"The good news is Mitchell is travelling to Girona for England's warm weather camp and will rehab from there. That is a good sign."