George Robson: Injury cover
London Irish hooker David Paice and Harlequins lock George Robson have been added to the England squad for the November internationals as injury cover.
The pair come into the mix after the Northampton duo of Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes both suffered knee injuries during the Saints' loss to Saracens on Saturday.
While the extent of the injuries to Hartley and Lawes have not yet been confirmed, Lancaster has not wasted any time in bringing in potential replacements.
Leicester's Tom Youngs is the only other hooker in the squad and Hartley's injury only adds further to Lancaster's woe, with fellow number twos Rob Webber and Joe Gray already out through injury.
Lawes missed much of last season due to an injury to his right knee but there will be some relief that the new injury is to his left knee.
Comments
three6three6 says...
There is no doubt that three hookers should be in the squad - this should include two experienced players plus a 'development' hooker. The situation is not looking great at the moment with all of the injuries - especially to Rob Webber. But it would be a real risk to pick a match day squad with ONLY one internationally experienced hooker and one rooky (with no further hooker in the larger squad). We do not want to see the performance suffer because of poor selection decisions.
Posted 03:00 04th November 2012
GoWalesGo says...
I'm surprised that Tom Lindsay hasn't even been considered for the Saxons
Posted 15:05 30th October 2012
heart_of_oak says...
ArmchairGeneral - re Lawes, I totally disagree. Robson is good but Lawes, if fit, is world class. Ask most posters on this site who would make the 2nd row in a B & I Lions team and they'll say Lawes. Few would say Robson.
Posted 13:17 30th October 2012
jestnation says...
We seem to have suddenly become very short of options at hooker.
Hartley is clinically insane.
Paice very decent set piece hooker but not sure what he brings in open play.
Youngs is still learning.
Webber and Brooker are decent premiership players but I'm not sure they're international quality.
Buchanan and George look like great prospects but need to play more rugby.
Beyond that I'm scratching my head.
Posted 16:10 29th October 2012
APV1 says...
We need Rob Webber to recover.
Posted 12:56 29th October 2012
Centre12 says...
I watched this weekly potential Lions analyst on Sky Sports the other day, a player who got a mention on his performance was Quins Hooker Buchanan, has anyone got any feed back on him??? I watched Tom Youngs play the other day and can't believe he is even in the Tigers squad, let alone England's.
Posted 10:05 29th October 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Paice was not in owing to recent recovery and Irish being poor. Neither now the case he should be well ahead of Youngs. Genuine challenge to Hartley. Lawes was lucky to be ahead of Robson. Think we need a 3rd hooker if Hartley comes back ok.
Posted 08:42 29th October 2012
melkdave says...
Both very able replacments imo if they are needed,must admit i forgot about D.Paice ,his been a regular of the Saxons now for a few years ,so SL knows him well .His lineout throwing is also alot better than T.Youngs seems to be,and his a good scrumminger to bot
Posted 01:34 29th October 2012