England and Wasps flanker Brad Shields is facing four to six weeks on the side lines with a foot ligament injury according to England assistant coach John Mitchell.
The back-rower returned home last week after sustaining the injury during training in Italy, straight away there were worries as to how long he would be out of action and it appears as though he is now in a race against time to make it to the World Cup.
“Brad’s got a tear in the lower foot. It’s always a little bit niggly, but it’s four to six weeks for him. We will continue to be updated and appraise his recovery and see where he gets to. Eddie will decide… it’s important that Eddie (Jones) will decide on who is right and who is not right. Plenty of time to go,” said Mitchell.
England begin their World Cup warm-up games on August 11th against Wales with head coach Eddie Jones set to name his final squad for the tournament the next day.
However, with Shields more than likely set to miss all three of England’s remaining warm-up games Jones will have a tough call to make as to whether or not to include him in the squad.
It was confirmed last week that Shields’ place in the warm-weather training camp was given to Harlequins youngster Alex Dombradt and Mitchell has also admitted that he has been impressed by him.
“Alex has basically been with us right from the start when the (first training) squad was named. Again also he had time out, he is a young athlete… but yeah, he is progressing nicely. Every day he is getting a little bit better and is learning a lot. I have actually really enjoyed (him), he has been quite outstanding in the programme,” he added.
The positives for England are that injured duo George Kruis and Mako Vunipola are on the mend with the former set for a return to training in the coming week.
“George is back in training this week, which has been really good for him. The medical team have done a great job on his progression. He is back in full off enthusiasm and looking great. And Mako is progressing nicely. We should see him back in at some point in August,” he continued.
As well as Shields England are also waiting to see how long it will take for Jack Nowell to recover from an ankle injury, he sustained in the Premiership final.
The pair will be hoping to convince Eddie Jones that they will be fit and ready for the tournament in Japan but at this moment in time things aren’t looking too promising.
