England injury updates 19th July 2007 - Brian Ashton England Head Coach today applauded Dan Ward-Smith for fighting back into Rugby World Cup contention.  The Bristol No 8 participated fully in a contact training session this morning – just six months after rupturing his patella tendon and dislocating his knee cap against Northampton Saints in January.  And England Head Coach Ashton saluted him for his comeback, which has included four weeks spent in the USA with world renowned knee rehab specialist Bill Knowles.

“Dan is a pretty determined character – he saw there was a light at the end of the tunnel and he really went for it,” said Ashton, who has until August 14 to cut his squad from 40 to the 30 who will travel to France.    “He is an incredibly fit athlete anyway but going over to Vermont to work with Bill and having specialist attention, coupled with his determination, has accelerated his progress.   “Not that long ago it looked like 50/50 as to whether he’d be available for World Cup selection but he did a full contact session this morning.”

Lawrence Dallaglio (London Wasps) is also back in training and available for the Investec Challenge match against Wales at Twickenham on 4th August.

“I took part in training yesterday and today and I’ll do a session tomorrow and I’m ready to report back, if selected, fully ready for the test matches coming up,” said Dallaglio.   “The spirit in the squad is fantastic. I came back into the squad after 15 months and I looked around round the room and I actually thought 'we are not in bad shape'. The strength of the squad is better than it was.   “There is a hard core of experienced players who have won big games for their club and country and then there are the likes of Danny Cipriani and Danny Hipkiss who are knocking on the door and bringing that enthusiasm. There is a great blend there and if we stay injury free and get our tactics right I don’t see any reason why we can’t go into the World Cup with a lot of confidence."

Ashton gave the following injury update:

Phil Vickery (London Wasps) did not train yesterday or today because of a mild sprain of the medial collateral ligament of his left knee sustained on Tuesday. It is anticipated that he will be fully available to train when the squad re-assembles for the week of the match against Wales.

Josh Lewsey (London Wasps) did not train today because of mild left ligament tibial stress syndrome (shin splints) which is expected to settle down over the next few days.

Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) did not train today as a precaution because of some discomfort in his right knee. However, he has trained all week and we expect him to return to full training in the next couple of days.

Tom Rees (London Wasps) and Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby) are continuing their rehabilitation from right knee and right tibial (shin) injuries respectively.

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