Jones worried about Lawes’ health with player likely to be out until Six Nations

Eddie Jones has admitted he is worried about Courtney Lawes’s health due to an ongoing head injury and does not expect to see the Northampton flanker return to the England fold before next year’s Six Nations.

Lawes has not played for Northampton since sustaining a head injury on 24 September and though he was named in the initial England training squad last month, he withdrew after suffering a setback. The 33-year-old was left out of England’s squad to prepare to face Japan on Saturday, having missed Sunday’s defeat by Argentina, with Northampton confirming he remains at the same stage of the return-to-play head injury protocols.

Earlier this year, Lawes spent six weeks on the sidelines after a head injury, eventually returning midway through the Six Nations and revealing that the problem had ultimately been diagnosed as an issue with his vestibular system, which gave him symptoms including persistent headaches and affected vision caused by “headrush”.

He recovered to captain England in their last three Six Nations matches as well as the summer tour of Australia but another lengthy lay-off with a head injury is a cause for concern. “I’m worried about his health, at this time; that he gets back to 100% health,” said Jones.

“But these things have a natural course – some heal quicker than others. If it takes a little bit of time, the most important thing is his health and he’ll get back to playing rugby when he’s ready. He needs some rest now rather than feeling like he has to rush to come back. We’re hopeful that he will be back for the Six Nations and ready to go.”

Jones also sought to take the blame for England’s miserable defeat by Argentina, accepting that a focus on next year’s World Cup cost his side, but showed no inclination to alter the approach, predicting a fierce response from his players against Japan. “I want us to be angry [against Japan] and play with a certain sort of anger,” added Jones.

“I am very disappointed in the last game. We weren’t good enough. That’s totally my responsibility, I didn’t coach well enough. I think whenever your team doesn’t play to the potential that you want there’s always something in the message you’re giving the team that’s not quite clear.

“When I reflect on the game, we’d been looking at a number of long-term strategies that we’re trying to employ to get ourselves set for the World Cup. Maybe our focus wasn’t tight enough on the Argentina game. We looked at times like we lacked a bit of energy, particularly in our attack. Maybe we’re just overthinking a bit. That’s entirely my fault.

“There’s a cluster of teams at the top of World Rugby, we want to break that cluster, and to do that we have to have a number of ways to play the game. This next 11 months is to get enough equipment in…