When rugby referees fight back... or just get battered
By Rugby Onslaught

When rugby referees fight back… or just get battered

Sometimes rugby referees simple must fight back. #

If they don’t, who the hell knows what might happen. Anarchy probably.

CREDIT: Andrew Forde

In other news:

The England men’s squad will assemble today in Bristol for their second Rugby World Cup training camp (14-18 July).

40 players have been called up with Harlequins players Mike Brown, Alex Dombrandt and Marcus Smith joining the squad alongside Bath Rugby’s Tom Dunn and Ollie Thorley (Gloucester Rugby). Danny Cipriani (Gloucester Rugby), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby) and Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby) will do specialised strength and conditioning work separately off site.

England head coach Eddie Jones said: “Our preparation is about making sure the players peak for the World Cup. It’s not about being ready now for it.

“Some players we feel will benefit now from being away from the camp for a little bit and will do specialised strength and conditioning work.

“We want to keep the squad fresh and alive which is important and we want to make sure there is a little bit of cooperative competition for selection and edge around.”

Jones added about the Bristol camp: “We are in Bristol this week as a bit of a change of scenery and pace. We have got good facilities and will continue to work very hard on particularly our physical conditioning but also our ability to implement our game plan under those physical conditions.

“The ante goes up again in this week. The players who have come in from the Premiership final will increase their contribution and the other guys are in their fourth week and are starting to get near good physical condition.”

England will play Wales (11 August) and Ireland (24 August) at Twickenham Stadium and Italy (6 September) in Newcastle as part of the Quilter Internationals as well as an away fixture against Wales (17 August) in Cardiff.

England will travel to Treviso, Italy for a heat camp from 22 July until 2 August before returning to Italy on 28 August until 5 September. The squad will also be based in Bristol in August (12-16) ahead of England’s away match against Wales. For the two matches against Wales and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium, the squad will train at Pennyhill Park.

England will begin their Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan against Tonga in Sapporo (22 September, KO 11:15am UK time) before playing USA Rugby in Kobe (26 September, KO 11:45am UK time), Argentina in Tokyo (5 October, KO 09:00am UK time) and France in Yokohama (12 October, KO 09:15am UK time).

Forwards
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 85 caps)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 11 caps)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 10 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, uncapped)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 9 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 37 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 27 caps)
George Kruis (Saracens, 32 caps)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 58 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 71 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 59 caps)
Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps)
Brad Shields (Wasps, 8 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 22 caps)
Jack Singleton (Saracens, uncapped)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 41 caps)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 53 caps)
Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)
Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons / Sale Sharks, 13 caps)

Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins, 72 caps)
Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
Elliot Daly (Saracens, 30 caps)
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 70 caps)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 55 caps)
Piers Francis (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)
Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 40 caps)
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 45 caps)
Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 33 caps)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 22 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, upcapped)
Ben Spencer (Saracens, 3 caps)
Ben Te’o (unattached, 18 caps)
Ollie Thorley (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 32 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 85 caps)

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