6 Nations - England call up Ellis for injured Care

Eurosport - Thu, 05 Feb 17:20:00 2009

England have called up scrum-half Harry Ellis to their starting XV for the Six Nations opener with Italy on Saturday after Danny Care failed to recover from an ankle injury.

RUGBY Harry Ellis, England v Italy, Six Nations 2007 - 0

Harlequins' Care strained ligaments above his right ankle while training at the team hotel on Tuesday and will continue to be treated by the England medical team.

Ellis (pictured), who was due to play for the England Saxons against Ireland A on Friday evening, is preferred to the Northampton's uncapped Ben Foden, who remains on the bench.

"On behalf of the squad we all feel for Danny and wish him a speedy recovery, said England manager Martin Johnson.

"Harry is an experienced international and I'm sure he will do a good job for us on Saturday."

Ellis last started for England in the 2007 Six Nations before a ruptured knee ligament, suffered playing for Leicester, ended his season and ruled him out of the World Cup in France.

The 26-year-old missed last year's Six Nations and England's summer tour to New Zealand to concentrate on returning to full fitness, before returning to the bench for the Novermber Tests.

The decision to name Ellis, capped 22 times for England, in the starting line-up ahead of the highly-versatile Foden is likely to be down to his experience playing alongside fly-half Andy Goode while both players were at Leicester.

Goode left the Tigers last summer to join French club Brive but the duo know each others' games inside out after forming a highly successful partnership at Welford Road over several seasons.

Injury was also the reason for Goode's recall to the England set-up after an absence of two years.

Johnson was expected to announce Toby Flood, Goode's replacement at Leicester, in the number 10 role until he was ruled out with a calf injury.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 18 of 18

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  1. HOOOORAAAAH!NO BARNES to spoil our games with his­ obvious & mostly incorrect commentry.
    Ellis is the­ best no9 in england.Better than Care & Foden,whom­ both lack the passion,strength & heart that is­ needed to pull on the 9 shirt.Ellis has only been kept­ out of the starting 15 because of his lack of game time­ caused by a six week ban.
    Could someone please tell me­ why Flutey is in this squad.Its about time the RFU­ started to encourage home grown talent,rather than­ wasting its money on over inflated castoffs from the­ southern hemisphere.He was not goodenough for them,so­ why should we accept second best. You will never see it­ happen in reverse.

    From applin1, on Fri 6 Feb 7:58AM

  2. Come on italy!!!best chance ever!!

    From applin1, on Thu 5 Feb 5:54PM

  3. I cant wait to watch the Six nations rugby, go ENGLAND!­ God save our Queen...

    From jzhong91, on Thu 5 Feb 5:37PM

  4. johncornish01 i agree with you there just might be an­ upset on the cards i hope not

    From alan, on Thu 5 Feb 5:35PM

  5. the worst england team in 15 yrs-how does simpson­ daniel,gaherity(spelling) not get in your team? i think­ u'll struggle against italy i really do!!!

    From Simon W, on Thu 5 Feb 5:08PM

  6. England are looking very shaky here with injuries and­ over the years Italy have been steadily improving in­ the 6 Nations. Could the unthinkable happen? Could we­ go down to the Azzuri?

    From John, on Thu 5 Feb 4:39PM

  7. ou

    From www.edfemosil, on Thu 5 Feb 4:14PM

  8. Of course Moore is biased towards England; anybody­ who's passionate about the game will have a bias­ towards their own country, especially if they've­ played for that country.

    From Paul, on Thu 5 Feb 1:35PM

  9. Ellis is a more experienced Scrum half at this level­ than Fodden..that is why he is in the team...once­ England have a lead, no doubt Fodden will come on -­ that is the norm..also Fodden can play other positions­ as well so it's easier to have him on the bench for­ cover than to start.

    From quoling, on Thu 5 Feb 1:21PM

  10. Basil - you're obviously English!! Moore is a­ great commentator and him and Butler are a great­ combination but to say that Moore isn't England­ biased is ridiculous!!

    From Lou Haylock, on Thu 5 Feb 12:47PM

  11. Egg chasers..who cares,roll around the mud in huddles­ and sing about it afterwards

    From andy, on Thu 5 Feb 12:44PM

  12. Moore is one of the least biased commentators that is­ around; Eddie Butler on the other hand is­ appalling.
    Ellis offers speed of pass, while Care­ offers unpredictability and speed of thought.
    Care­ would be better with Flood, long-term it needs to be­ Ellis with Cipriani:
    a) Care and Cipriani would be too­ unpredictable and nobody would have a clue what is­ going on
    b) Ellis will get the ball to Cipriani far­ more quickly this lowering the chances of charge downs

    From basil_feilding, on Thu 5 Feb 12:38PM

  13. i think ellis is a great player and im not a fan of the­ tigers!!! he will offer pace and direction around the­ fringes he motervates the forwards around rucks and­ mauls and has the ability to play quick ball he may­ give away a lot of peneltys but so did neil back and he­ was a england great for playing the game on the edge of­ the law

    From paul s, on Thu 5 Feb 12:14PM

  14. I Agree they are both overrated has beens, why­ can't Sky replace them both especially that fat git­ Barnes. he ruins most rugby games for anyone who knows­ the game. He must learn to keep his fat idiotic­ comments to himself, why can't he join Eurosports­ or something. Also Ellis is a dirty player who will­ give away loads of penalties.

    Cheers

    From Desperate Dan, on Thu 5 Feb 11:56AM

  15. Does anyone ever listen to barnes and morris anymore.­ These are both overrated has beens who are so one sided­ in there commentry. Another one who does this is moore.­ Why these people cant give an honest opinion of the­ game they are watching instead of being so biased is­ beyond me.

    From Woody, on Thu 5 Feb 11:41AM

  16. David, maybe foden was in the squad to play 15, and­ just incase anything happened to care during the game­ he would play at 9.

    From ysm92, on Thu 5 Feb 11:38AM

  17. This is somethng I'll never understand. If Foden is­ considered better (in skill or current form) than Ellis­ why doesn't he automatically go into the team? If­ he's not good enough, why was he in the squad­ anyway? No a good sign for the quality fo Johnson's­ selections

    From David T, on Thu 5 Feb 11:25AM

  18. Ellis is an underrated scrum-half. Serious injury from­ which he is now fully recovered caused a blip in his­ career. A ban recently has also hampered his­ international prospects.
    His recent outing with the­ Saxons showed his prowess and hunger for the game,­ albeit against poor oposition.
    he is 100% rubgy. Off­ the field he is too quiet and does not seem to push­ himself forward with the media.
    Sky presenters Barnes­ and Morris have a distinct dislike of him, to the point­ of venomous.

    From MICHAEL, on Thu 5 Feb 11:11AM
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