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Ellis Genge: England prop tests positive for Covid-19 and is out of Australia Test

Last updated on .From the section Rugby Unioncomments435

Great opportunity for Rodd to show what he can do - Jones
Autumn Test: England v Australia
Date: Saturday, 13 November Kick-off: 17:45 GMT Venue: Twickenham
Coverage: Live updates on the BBC Sport website and app

England loose-head prop Ellis Genge has tested positive for Covid-19, meaning uncapped Sale prop Bevan Rodd will start against Australia on Saturday.

Newcastle's Trevor Davison, who earned his only England cap in July, replaces Rodd on the bench.

Joe Marler - who came on for Genge against Tonga last weekend - is out after a positive test on Monday.

Owen Farrell did not play last weekend after a test said he had Covid-19, but it was found to be a false positive.

The RFU said Genge is isolating and that no other positive results have been returned by players or staff after lateral flow tests, with PCR results expected later on Friday or early Saturday morning.

Government regulations require those testing positive to isolate for 10 days, meaning Genge will also miss England's final autumn Test against world champions South Africa.

England's coronavirus issues began when a member of their support staff tested positive on 4 November.

The side trained at Twickenham as planned on Friday morning and head coach Eddie Jones said of the disruption: "We treat it as normal now.

"Every day is an adventure and we're on a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment. Covid keeps coming, we just accept it and get on with it.

"I was watching the players come through this morning. Some are disappointed for Ellis, others are angry, others just want to get on with it."

Davison's call-up comes as experienced England international Mako Vunipola continues to be left out of the squad.

England: Steward; Tuilagi, Slade, Farrell (capt) May; Smith, Youngs; Rodd, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Lawes, Underhill, Curry.

Replacements: Blamire, Davison, Stuart, Ewels, Dombrandt, Simmonds, Quirke, Malins.

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435 comments

  • Comment posted by Empirestrikesback, at 11:51 12 Nov 2021

    From a Kiwi...... folks, all this negativity.

    Congratulations Bevan Rodd on your first cap..

    • Reply posted by Pedro Bristol, at 12:05 12 Nov 2021

      Pedro Bristol replied:
      Well said and congratulations in the cricket.. Good luck for the final!!!

  • Comment posted by RMC 1964, at 11:39 12 Nov 2021

    How about (and bear with me on this one) EJ's project of playing players out of position to be given a real workout?
    Farrell to loose-head.
    Then he can save face by returning Tuilagi to 12 and Radwan to the wing. Genius.

    • Reply posted by Trytastic, at 11:55 12 Nov 2021

      Trytastic replied:
      Radwan is still injured, this has been posted for over 24 hours now

  • Comment posted by FeIchmeister 5000, at 11:52 12 Nov 2021

    Eddie Jones can't win with some people... you complain he should be blooding new players when he persists with more experienced squad members, and you complain he should be calling up experienced players when he brings in uncapped talent

    • Reply posted by The Janner, at 12:16 12 Nov 2021

      The Janner replied:
      Well said. Debate amongst fans is always a good thing but the negativity towards Eddie by some on here is ridiculous. I like the fact that he's trying new players or experimenting with different ideas, some things work and some things don't.

  • Comment posted by Obsen, at 11:36 12 Nov 2021

    Shame for Genge, but what an opportunity for Rodd. All the best to the lad.

    • Reply posted by played12, at 13:40 12 Nov 2021

      played12 replied:
      Looks like the bubble the players are supposed to be in doesn't work. Once one player tests positive you would imagine others will too. With a training regime that injures player and a leaking bubble we will be lucky to get a 2nd XV on the pitch next week. The Australians don't seem to have this problem.

  • Comment posted by Joel, at 11:51 12 Nov 2021

    why a comment section for this? he is covid positive and cannot play, that's it. that's why there are more than 15 players in a squad, or am I missing something?

    • Reply posted by Pholmes, at 12:01 12 Nov 2021

      Pholmes replied:
      Because BBC knows the public have a weird dislike for Genge and England, thus more clicks, thus more comments etc

  • Comment posted by SammyG100, at 11:55 12 Nov 2021

    So Great to see lion Sam Simmonds in the squad where he rightfully deserves to be!

    • Reply posted by the_legend_killer, at 13:44 12 Nov 2021

      the_legend_killer replied:
      Be even better if he was starting

  • Comment posted by MrBounce, at 11:40 12 Nov 2021

    The difficulty that Jones has is that he can probably only use players in his squad due to Covid protocols. So all the calls for Mako/Hepburn/Moon are null and void.

    Here's hoping that Rodd and Davison show us that they're worthy. Good luck guys!

    • Reply posted by TheRealist, at 11:48 12 Nov 2021

      TheRealist replied:
      yes, those protocols are working really well!

  • Comment posted by EJB, at 12:35 12 Nov 2021

    imagine moaning about a brilliant prospect winning his first cap

  • Comment posted by Dezza, at 12:43 12 Nov 2021

    I've got an idea - a bit leftfield admittedly - let's leave selection to the bloke who's paid to do it, and just sit back and enjoy the game. Come on England!!

    • Reply posted by isitme, at 12:58 12 Nov 2021

      isitme replied:
      It'll never catch on

  • Comment posted by Kevin marshall, at 12:47 12 Nov 2021

    We should be talking more of the scrum than Marcus smith and players out of position. Scrum lost us the World Cup and big games our so called supremacy at scrum only gets parity .

    • Reply posted by Eddie Izzards Beret, at 15:30 12 Nov 2021

      Eddie Izzards Beret replied:
      Absolutely spot on. This used to win England multiple penalties per game

  • Comment posted by Pig, at 12:02 12 Nov 2021

    The more fresh faces that get to play in these games the better.

  • Comment posted by First name, at 11:41 12 Nov 2021

    Wait Eddie is trusting Rodd to start???

    Thought I would see Ewels moved into the front row.

  • Comment posted by FrankMachin, at 14:01 12 Nov 2021

    I find the criticism and mocking of Jones just quite ridiculous. He is responsible for the most spectacular turnaround of the England RFU team. The previous time an England team made it to the WC final was when there was a player revolt who took over coaching the team. He inherited a set of players that had the most disastrous WC of any host nation. Yet so many people consider him to be clueless

    • Reply posted by Hopalongprop, at 14:34 12 Nov 2021

      Hopalongprop replied:
      Agreed. You could argue that Woodward had a far more talented group of players available to him. Jones has managed to forge a team from a group of good if not spectacular players & take them to a WC final.
      Only wish he wouldn't mouth off as in the latest example of Raducanu

  • Comment posted by fobber, at 11:37 12 Nov 2021

    Can't believe George Furbank did'nt get the nod!!

    • Reply posted by First name, at 11:40 12 Nov 2021

      First name replied:
      I agree. He is the sort of player that can play in any position.

  • Comment posted by Pholmes, at 12:05 12 Nov 2021

    Another big loss, Genge was excellent against Tonga and held his own very well against the behemoth of a tighthead last week.

    Rodd has a chance to prove his belonging in the selection here, all the best to him from a fellow ex Dunoon resident!

    • Reply posted by ComradPravda, at 12:12 12 Nov 2021

      ComradPravda replied:
      He isn't dead yet.

  • Comment posted by 21stone number7, at 11:35 12 Nov 2021

    Hold on,Eddie, I haven't played loose head for forty years but i'm going to find my boots.

  • Comment posted by Dan, at 13:24 12 Nov 2021

    It's a bit like the old days. Meet your team mates on the Friday afternoon for a run, meal and a few wines at the Petersham and have a Jolly good battle at Twickers on Saturday before more food and beers (and maybe the odd aftershave) at the reception. Bloody good show!

  • Comment posted by Obsen, at 13:14 12 Nov 2021

    I find some of the England fans quite interesting. It seems to me that they love to s*it all over certain players. You don't really get that with Scotland, Wales or Ireland fans.

    • Reply posted by The Academy, at 13:18 12 Nov 2021

      The Academy replied:
      True to an extent but then I read a fair bit of infighting when it comes to the fans of the 4 Welsh teams. A few don't seem to rate Cuthbert etc. Probably more to do with player numbers. There are normally 3 or 4 really good options for England and generally not that many for the other teams to squabble over, purely down to size of country etc.

  • Comment posted by rugby is my game, at 12:55 12 Nov 2021

    Good luck to Rodd.It's a good job we're playing the Ozzies & not the Saffers.

  • Comment posted by WindsorBloke, at 11:44 12 Nov 2021

    Just taken a look at the picture above. What's Jamie Roberts doing in the England squad?

    • Reply posted by Raging Bull, at 11:46 12 Nov 2021

      Raging Bull replied:
      Eddie needed him for the other wing

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