Itoje an illness doubt for England against Ireland

LONDON : England lock Maro Itoje could miss Saturday's Six Nations clash with Ireland at Twickenham through illness, though he does not have COVID-19 and is expected to recover, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said on Friday.

Itoje missed England's final training session, though officials said they are hopeful he would recover in time to play in the game where defeat would almost certainly end each side's hopes of taking the title.

If Itoje, one of England's most consistent performers, is ruled out, Joe Launchbury would probably step up from the bench to start, earning his first cap since December 2020.

"Maro was a little sick overnight so we’re just giving him an opportunity to recover but we’re really optimistic he’ll be right,” England forwards coach Matt Proudfoot told journalists.

“We put things in place to make sure that if things happen at late stages, we’re well covered. Charlie Ewels and Joe Launchbury ran in the second row today. We have Ollie Chessum in the squad and Nick Isiekwe on standby so we’re well covered."

Forwards coach Richard Cockerill has tested positive for COVID and will miss the match, after Number Eight Alex Dombrandt and winger Louis Lynagh were also ruled out by COVID earlier in the week. However, in some good news for coach Eddie Jones, prop Kyle Sinckler has recovered from the back injury that limited his involvement this week and he is fit to start.

England go into the game in the rare situation of being bookmakers' underdogs at Twickenham, largely because of the teams' relative performances in the first three rounds of the Championship but also Ireland's victory last year.

Ireland brushed England aside 32-18 in Dublin then, in a match that had a big impact on Jones, who later said that was the