Scrum-half Alex Mitchell is out of England’s trip to Murrayfield after suffering a knee injury; Bristol Bears’ Harry Randall has been called up in his place; Ollie Lawrence has returned to full training to boost Steve Borthwick’s centre options following Manu Tuilagi’s return to the squad
England’s chances of recovering the Calcutta Cup from Scotland have suffered a setback as Alex Mitchell was ruled out of the Murrayfield match with a knee injury.
The RFU confirmed the scrum-half will miss the pivotal Guinness Six Nations Round 3 game because of an injury that requires further investigation before a date for his return can be set.
Bristol Bears’ Harry Randall has been named as the replacement in Steve Borthwick’s 36-man training squad with Danny Care and Ben Spencer competing to fill the void in the No 9 jersey in Edinburgh.
The loss of Mitchell, who scored a try in the opening win over Italy in Rome and started in the narrow victory against Wales at Twickenham, was offset by the news Ollie Lawrence has been cleared to resume full training.
The Bath centre had suffered a hip injury during his club’s Investec Champions Club match against Toulouse last month and it was initially feared he would miss the entire Six Nations. However, he is now in line to feature against Scotland.
Lawrence’s availability follows Manu Tuilagi, George Martin and Luke Cowan-Dickie all returning to the training squad last week ,and the return of Tuilagi and Lawrence leaves Borthwick with a decision to make around whether to continue with Fraser Dingwall in midfield.
Fly-half Marcus Smith has linked back up with the England squad as well to continue his rehabilitation from a calf injury, although no date has yet been set for his return to playing.
Cole got green light from wife to continue England career
Dan Cole was given the green light to continue his England career by wife Isobel having decided he did not want to join the contingent of players retiring after last year’s Rugby World Cup.
Cole took stock of his Test future after helping England finish third at last autumn’s global showpiece knowing that Courtney Lawes, Jonny May and Ben Youngs had already played their final international games.
The 36-year-old prop has re-established himself in the front row under Borthwick after spending three years in Red Rose exile and is eager to make the most of his time at the top.
“My wife is very understanding that I haven’t got many games left,” Cole said. “It was a joint decision.
“She understands that with Steve and the coaches that she knows from Leicester, it is a very good team environment and place to be. I won’t be doing it forever, so enjoy it.”
Cole has yet to decide on whether or not this year’s Six Nations will be his last for the national team though.
“I haven’t made up my mind,” Cole said. “I haven’t thought about it so far, we’ll see how it goes.
“After the World Cup I thought about everything really. I had a conversation with Steve, and he said to me after Courtney had announced his retirement at a press conference ‘are you planning any press conferences or announcements?’.
“I said that ‘I’ve got to speak to my wife and to you Steve because if you’re not going to pick me, then I will’. He said that I’d like you to have the option [to play on]. I was like fair enough because I owe Steve a lot – and here I am.
“It’s one of those things where you never want to give up, but at the same time you can understand why boys with families do because international rugby is a tough environment to be in. It’s intense.”
The Blades were put to the sword in the remaining 77 minutes as goals from Facundo Buonanotte and Danny Welbeck, Simon Adingra’s double and a Jack Robinson own goal gave the Seagulls their second victory at Bramall Lane in three weeks after a 5-2 fourth-round FA Cup romp last month.
Things might have been different had Holgate, who looks set to be fined by the club, kept his cool and Wilder says the defender knows he “got it wrong”.
“He has apologised to the boys, he understands it and he is an experienced pro,” Wilder, whose side conceded five goals at home for the third successive game, said.
“He has got it wrong, I want us to be competitive, I want us to win tackles, we can’t have a passive game
“It is a competitive game, it is a not a non-contact game but we have to get that right, Mason has to get that right. It is huge setback for us in the approach to the overall game.
“I am torn, I am a competitor and I understand that it was a very, very strong challenge and the game has moved on.
“Some people won’t want the game to move and on and expect physical contact, excessive force or whatever you call it.
“Winning the ball and challenging in that way is deemed not acceptable. We have got no excuses, or nowhere to hide, the referee gave it a yellow card straight away but obviously when he went to the monitor and saw it slowed down and has somebody in his ear saying it’s a red card.
“Better managers than me, quite a lot of them around at the moment I should imagine – bigger, better clubs than Sheffield United would have found it difficult to go down to 10 because of they way they play.
“The game was decided on that, I could say 100 per cent we would not have gone done 5-0.”
The Seagulls made hay at Bramall Lane for the second time in three weeks and took advantage of Holgate’s indiscipline.
They kept the pressure on Manchester United in sixth place but boss Roberto De Zerbi would have preferred to have played 11 versus 11.
“We played very well, especially in the first half, it was very difficult to find the right moment to shoot, to score,” the Italian said.
“The first half was a very good performance, I am sorry for the red card, sincerely, because I would like to play the game 11 v 11 and it is not always an advantage to play with one player more.
“Especially if the characteristic of the opponent is like Sheffield United because you can find it more difficult to score.
“The second part of the first half they defended the last 25 metres with nine players behind the ball.”
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