England winger Watson to sit out Scotland game with calf injury

England winger Anthony Watson has failed to recover from a calf injury. Photo: Peter Cziborra/Reuters

England winger Anthony Watson has failed to recover from a calf injury. Photo: Peter Cziborra/Reuters

Published Feb 5, 2020

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LONDON - England winger Anthony Watson will miss Saturday's Six Nations clash with Scotland at Murrayfield after failing to recover from a calf injury, forwards coach Matt Proudfoot said on Wednesday.

Watson was ruled out of England's opener against France as they suffered a surprise 24-17 defeat in Paris last weekend and the 25-year-old will miss the Calcutta Cup clash in Edinburgh after a recurrence of the issue.

"We'll give him the opportunity to get over it 100% before we give him the go (ahead)," Proudfoot told the BBC. "He won't be available for the weekend."

The injury is another blow for England coach Eddie Jones who will also be without centre Manu Tuilagi, who injured his groin and was taken off after 16 minutes in Paris.

France took a 24-0 lead to leave World Cup runners-up England reeling and lock Courtney Lawes said his team needed to look at the All Blacks as an example and count on their own experience when things did not go according to plan.

"We have some serious experience... We know we're good when we get the game plan right and we're executing," Lawes said. "But now we need to work on when things aren't going to plan, where we go to next.

"We need to be better at identifying where we're struggling and adapting to that situation to get momentum back, where you're struggling to get anything from the referee or a bounce of a ball, how can you gain back that control.

"That's what New Zealand do so well, so often. So many times they're on the back foot for the first 20-30 minutes and they can find a way to swing it around, get momentum and get their gameplan going."

England are fourth in the Six Nations standings, while Scotland are fifth. 

Reuters

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