England back Jack Nowell has set a target of being available for selection for his side’s clash with Italy on September 6th as he continues his recovery from injury.
The Exeter Chiefs player has been out of
action since suffering an ankle injury during the Chiefs 36-34 loss in the
Premiership final back in June.
Only last week England’s assistant coach Neal
Hatley admitted that there was no clear timeline as to when Nowell would
return, but after being named in Eddie Jones’ final 31-man World Cup squad he
has set his own date.
“Italy was the main goal for me at the start, and one I am still definitely pushing towards. For me, it is a bit of a weird one. I’ve not been training with the boys or anything,” he said.
There were people wondering whether Nowell
would be named in the squad as he hasn’t trained properly for over two months
and he feels lucky to be a part of the travelling squad.
“I am feeling quite lucky to be involved, but I am very excited about it and hopefully I am only a few weeks away from actually training and stuff. I am recovering pretty well. At the start, maybe I pushed it a bit too hard. I popped back to the club for a week, saw the surgeon and just needed a week off my feet a bit, but that was probably down to myself being desperate to be back and be involved. I am just doing everything I can to get myself fit as soon as possible,” he added.
The 26-year-old is stepping up his
rehabilitation from injury at the moment and it would be great to see him back
in action against Italy. However, with the squad travelling to Japan on
September 8th Eddie Jones may rest him to keep him fresh for the
tournament itself.
