Leaked England training footage leaves fans to speculate over possible bust-up
Footage of Steve Borthwick’s England squad training this week ahead of the Six Nations has been leaked, and there is one very interesting detail.
Amid footage of the forwards mauling and the backs passing, some might have missed that London Irish winger Ollie Hasell-Collins’ nose was stuffed full of gauze.
Now there is probably a perfectly simple explanation for why his nose is like that. In fact, there are probably millions of explanations that are innocuous, particularly in a contact sport. And while one of those explanations is almost certainly what happened, there is also a chance that there was a mass brawl among the backs- that cannot be ruled out either. Maybe he said something about Owen Farrell’s tackling? Maybe it was an initiation for uncapped players? What is clear is that Hassell-Collins came off second best.
England have already been struck by their fair share of injuries ahead of this year’s Championship, with Saracens duo Elliot Daly and Jamie George being added to that list after their match with Edinburgh on Sunday.
FULL ENGLAND SQUAD
FORWARDS
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 95 caps)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks,1 cap)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 9 caps)
Ben Earl (Saracens, 13 caps)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 43 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 72 caps) – Replaced by Jamie Blamire
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)
Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 19 caps)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 8 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 62 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 96 caps) – Replaced by David Ribbans
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 14 caps)
George McGuigan (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped) – Replaced by Tom Dunn
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 56 caps)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 74 caps)
Jack Walker (Harlequins, uncapped)
Jack Willis (Toulouse, 6 caps)
BACKS
Elliot Daly (Saracens, 57 caps) – Replaced by Ollie Lawrence
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 101 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Dan Kelly (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
Max Malins (Saracens, 14 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 13 caps)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins, uncapped)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 52 caps)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 17 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 50 caps)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 121 caps)
