Rugby World Cup Barometer: Carreras can cause England problems
In the lead up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Morning Wire has put together a barometer in partnership with City Index to look at which players and other personnel are hot and not in the race to be part of the quadrennial event in France later this year.
Player of the week
Argentina will need to beat either England or Japan to qualify from their pool at this year’s Rugby World Cup, and when you have players like Mateo Carreras it makes notching up tries much more likely.
The Newcastle Falcons back has been in scintillating form for his club and notched up his 13th try of the Premiership campaign to draw level with Harlequins’ Cadan Murley at the top of the try-scoring stats.
He is surely one of the first names on the Pumas’ Rugby World Cup team sheet.
Who’s hot?
- Solid scrummagers are worth their weight in gold at a match-packed Rugby World Cup and Will Stuart has been a standout for Bath. Worth watching.
- England’s Tommy Freeman has been criticised for his defending in recent months but he was superb for Northampton against Saracens.
Who’s not?
- Ange Capuozzo, the Italian superstar, suffered an injury for Toulouse. He will miss the rest of the season but Italy will hope he recovers soon.
- Lachlan Swinton was called up to Eddie Jones’s Australia squad only to be handed a seven-week ban from the sport for a dangerous tackle.
Previous Rugby World Cup Barometers
1: Pearson, Pollard, Hastoy, Sexton, Willis