COURTNEY LAWES HAS resumed full training with England after recovering from concussion and is in contention to face Wales in next week’s Six Nations match at Twickenham.
Lawes was unable to play in the opening two rounds of the tournament after suffering the injury playing for Northampton.
The 32-year-old forward has now completed his return-to-play protocols.
If Lawes plays against Wales on 26 February, England head coach Eddie Jones must decide whether he should resume in the captaincy role he filled in November – flanker Tom Curry has been skipper in England’s first two matches.
“Courtney trained fully today (Friday), which is obviously really good news for himself and England,” defence coach Anthony Seibold said on Friday.
“He looked sharp. That was the last box for him to tick. He’s had a very thorough return-to-play integration and did everything in the session.”
With a full training week in the lead-up to the Wales clash ahead of him, Lawes is likely to take over from Maro Itoje at blindside flanker, with Itoje moving into the second row.
“I was super impressed with Courtney in the autumn, which was the first time I’d worked with him,” Seibold said.
He took over from Owen Farrell as captain when Owen got injured and he did a fantastic job. He leads through his actions.
“One of the things with Courtney is his ability in defence. Everyone can see his athleticism, but what he does off the ball in defence, the little detail around his effort areas, is very high.”
Number eight Sam Simmonds will resume full training after a hip injury limited his involvement in England’s three-day fallow week camp in London.
England lost 20-17 to Scotland in their opening Six Nations match but recovered to beat Italy 33-0.
Gavan Casey is joined by Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella to discuss the prospect of South Africa replacing Italy in the Six Nations and reflect on Ireland’s performance in Paris, before looking ahead to the URC action this weekend.
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