Injuries aggravate England as Mark Cueto fails to overcome lower back problem - Rugby
The injury problems for England have been further increased as their key player, Mark Cueto, may be ruled out from their first game of Rugby World Cup 2011 against the Pumas to be played on September 10, due to a lower back injury. The manager of the English
team, Martin Johnson, revealed his 22-member squad for their inaugural clash against Argentina on September 7 and said that left wings’ postion could be handed over to Delon Armitage at the expense of Mark Cueto.
Earlier, Lewis Moody, the skipper of English side, was also declared unfit to participate in this particular game due to an injury to his knee.
Informing the media about the latest casualty to his team, Martin Johnson said Cueto has been suffering with a minor injury and will be fit for their second clash of the tournament on September 18. Cueto sustained the back injury during their Rugby World
Cup warm-up match against Ireland, which looked quite ordinary at the time.
Explaining the nature of Mark Cueto injury, Johnson said that, “Mark's had a little bit (of back trouble) before but he could have played (against Argentina). It's quite a simple decision. Delon been around for a few years now, we know when he is in form
he is a Test match player. We've no qualms about picking him in any of the back three positions.”
The manager further said that, “There's a grey area between fit and injured in where most players sit all of the time. He trained fully all week but he's not quite where he needs to be - but the good things for us is Delon is playing very well.”
Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and stand-in skipper Mike Tindall will be required to put in a greater effort in the absence of Mark Cueto and Lewis Moody. England will open their RWC campaign with the following players:
England: Ben Foden: Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi, Mike Tindall (capt), Mark Cueto; Jonny Wilkinson, Richard Wigglesworth; Andrew Sheridan, Steve Thompson, Dan Cole; Louis Deacon, Courtney Lawes; Tom Croft, James
Haskell, Nick Easter.
Replacements: Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens, Tom Palmer, Tom Wood, Ben Youngs Toby Flood, Delon Armitage.
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