“He’s a fantastic defensive player, a very good chop tackler and a strong scrummager. “I’ve watched Bevan closely for the last 12 months,“ Jones said. The 21-year-old Rodd, who was born in Scotland, has gone from being out of the squad to a starter against Australia in three days. It would be an interesting isolation if he and Marler were together! Fortunately they are not because we might only end up with one coming out!“ “He’s vice captain of this team, loves playing against Australia and loves the challenge of playing at Twickenham. ”He’s not sick at all, which is obviously the frustrating thing for him. “Ellis is enormously disappointed,“ Jones said. Every time we have a case we deal with it better, emotionally and operationally.” It’s not going to go away, it will keep coming. Every day is an adventure and we’re on bit of a rollercoaster at the moment,“ Jones said. It proved to be a false-positive, but Farrell was told that only on Sunday. It is the second straight November test where Jones has had to change plans at the last minute because of a player testing positive for the coronavirus.Įngland captain Owen Farrell did so ahead of the game against Tonga on Saturday, which the English won 69-3. Trevor Davison has been promoted to the bench. Genge was replaced by the uncapped Bevan Rodd, who was called into the squad only after fellow prop Joe Marler tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. LONDON - England was forced to make a late change to its starting lineup for Saturday’s rugby test against Australia after losing another prop on what coach Eddie Jones called their COVID-19 “rollercoaster.”Įllis Genge returned a positive test on Friday and has gone into isolation.Įngland said no other positive tests were received among players or staff, and training went ahead as planned on Friday.