Dan Ward-Smith has become the latest player to see his Rugby World Cup 2007 dreams end after running out of time in his comeback from rupturing his patella tendon and dislocating his knee cap back in January.
The number 8 had been praised by England coach Brian Ashton last month for the determination he had shown in his comeback to put himself in contention for a World Cup spot, but he was released from the preliminary training squad on Tuesday.
“I had a long chat with Dan yesterday and he has made fantastic progress since he damaged his knee,” admitted Ashton. “But he is not quite ready to compete at this level and with the best will in the world you don’t want to be using a World Cup warm up game to rehabilitate from such an injury.”
However the door has not been completed closed on Ward-Smith, who had been expected to make his England debut in this year’s Six Nations Championship before suffering the injury playing for his club Bristol against Northampton Saints.
Injury blow for Strettle
“He will be joining Bristol for their pre-season camp and should he be required for the World Cup as cover, he will probably have got three games under his belt and we can see what his form is like then,” Ashton added.
Meanwhile another England player facing a nervous wait to see if his World Cup dream is also over for another four years is David Strettle after breaking the fifth metatarsal in his left foot during training on Tuesday.
The wing – who has won three caps this year – suffered the injury during an open running session at England’s training base at the University of Bath and will see a specialist in London on Wednesday evening for further assessment of the injury.
“I’m obviously disappointed to hear about David’s injury and I wish him a speedy recovery. I won’t make any decisions about a possible replacement until I receive a full briefing of the consultation tomorrow morning,” Ashton said.
