Northampton fly-half Piers Francis will not join England this week after testing positive for coronavirus, Rugby Football Union has announced
Francis played for Northampton in their match against Sale, who has since recorded 19 positive cases of Covid-19, a week ago
« Piers Francis will not be part of this week’s camp in England due to a positive test for Covid-19, » said a statement from the RFU
Team update | Piers Francis will not be part of this week’s camp in England due to testing positive for Covid-19
The news on Francis comes after Eddie Jones revealed England are sweating over three players who may have to withdraw from national training camp due to coronavirus concerns
Head coach Jones named a highly changed 28-man squad with 12 uncapped players on Monday for a three-day camp
He was already unable to select players in the Premiership half, with the top four involved in play-offs and Sale and Worcester facing a revamped game on Wednesday after the Sharks’ Covid-19 outbreak
But on Tuesday morning, the England boss was forced to admit that three more players may have to withdraw from the makeshift national team
Refusing to name the players in question, Jones admitted England will continue to monitor the situation
When asked how much Sale’s situation could upset England, Jones said: « Well I really don’t know what happened, what am I trying to do is selecting the available players, so that’s all I’m worried about
« We are looking at three players today, if they will be available for selection we will find out this morning and then wait and see
« I just saw in football that England had three players unavailable this morning, they cannot enter Gareth Southgate’s camp »
This is a reference to the fact that Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho were barred from joining the Southgate squad on schedule as England ‘gathered additional information on a social rally which the three players would have attended ”
Sale was forced to deny claims that the string of positive coronavirus cases at the club came from players flouting social distancing rules
The Sharks’ last regular season clash with Worcester had to be postponed this weekend and is set to be played on Wednesday night
💬 « A lot of learning, a little work and a little fun » 🏉
The sale can still find its way into the playoffs with a win over the Warriors, but insists they would lose the game if their coronavirus situation hadn’t improved over time
England boss Jones insisted he had not been fully assessed of the events in Sale, but admitted the impact of Covid-19 remains inevitable
« It’s a fact of life right now, it’s what we have to face, we can’t worry about it too much, we’re not too obsessed with it, » Jones said. / p>
« It’s all about adaptation, there are going to be more changes, and we’re planning that, so we just have to roll with it, figure out what we can do, figure out what we can’t do, and take it on board «
England will start a busy schedule with the capless international clash against the Barbarians, before completing the delayed Six Nations and moving on to the new Fall Nations Cup
Jones would generally be without his frontline stars for the Barbarians game, given the standard shock with the Premiership final
And the pragmatic Australian has admitted to fighting as much as possible to conduct business as usual, at least in terms of coaching
« Traditionally this camp has always been about giving opportunities to young players and having chances to see new people, » Jones said
« You have teams that are not in the Premiership semi-finals, so you have a handful of youngsters
« It’s the same now, so it’s a great opportunity for them to raise their hands and see how far they can go with the selection »
Eddie Jones, England national rugby union team, England, Premiership Rugby, Saracens, Northampton Saints
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