Mounting England injuries leave Eddie Jones will huge back-row conundrum

Eddie Jones has pulled a few rabbits out of his hat in his time as England head coach but will have to surpass himself if his team are to have a serviceable back row for the autumn internationals.

The Australian names his squad for the four games, against South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, tomorrow and if he solves this one he will really have earned his salary.

Harlequins’s veteran back row Chris Robshaw was the latest casualty when he had knee surgery yesterday, ruling him out of the entire campaign and adding to Jones’s conundrum.

Billy Vunipola is out for 12 weeks, Nathan Hughes is under a disciplinary shadow, and Exeter’s Sam Simmonds is injured, leaving Jones short of a No8, and coaches from clubs everywhere are touting their men to fill the void.

Despite the doom and gloom there are actually some fit players out there to help Jones crack the code. But whatever he does the back row is going to be short on caps when they go up against the southern hemisphere big three a year out from the World Cup.

Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has backed his man Ben Morgan to come in as a ball-carrying back row after leading from the front in his team’s 19-14 Champions Cup win over Castres on Sunday. Morgan has won 31 caps for England, the last in the 2015 World Cup, but has never been picked in a squad by Jones.

Bath’s uncapped Zach Mercer is also a candidate and was involved in the training camp in Bristol and over at Harlequins they are championing the cause of James Chisholm.

The 23-year-old No8, who was World Junior Player of the Year in 2015, has many of Vunipola’s qualities and captained Quins in Saturday’ Challenge Cup win over Agen despite his youth.

Quins assistant coach Nick Evans says Jones could do worse than have a look at him at the upcoming Portugal training camp. “Injuries are a big thing for England and Billy is crucial,” said Evans. “He is such as go-to guy in terms of carrying and in terms of that focal point in attack and their go forward.

“I definitely think Chis’s name will be thrown in the hat. He is really abrasive in terms of ball carrying and he makes momentum carries more often than not. He is a big part of how we get our momentum.

“He is more elusive in the loose and the wider channels than you think. He is getting game time and I would expect his form to go up and up and up like it did last year. Hopefully his name is in the mix.”

Once Jones has sorted out that little lot he has another headache at blindside flanker, where Robshaw (right) has been his so-called ‘glue player’ for much of his reign.

Saracens’ Michael Rhodes is probably the in-form candidate and is just the sort of player Jones likes. He is tough, uncompromising and has a rugby brain and as Jones says, “he hits hard and he hits often”.

Newcastle’s Mark Wilson is a similar type who has toured with England the last two summers and was on the bench in South Africa and looks certain for a squad place. Robshaw was actually dropped for the second Test of the summer tour when Jones preferred Wasps’s Brad Shields but returned for the final game when Shields was ill.

Shields, who returned from a fractured cheek in Friday’s Champions Cup defeat to Leinster, has played just two hours this season.

Courtney Lawes played at No6 during the Six Nations but has missed a fortnight with back trouble, James Haskell, like Lawes, is an option as is Exeter’s Don Armand but Jones does not seem to fancy him.

There is also the option of playing Maro Itoje at No6 around the park but packing him down in the second row of the scrum as England did during the Six Nations. Jones may prefer to keep Itoje as a traditional lock given that he is missing Joe Launchbury already.

Openside flanker appears to be a straight shootout between Sale’s Tom Curry and Bath’s Sam Underhill. Curry started all three Tests in South Africa and looks favourite unless Jones goes back to his “make do and mend” selection of his first year of Tests and plays a basher like Haskell there. Over to you, Eddie.