Hartley set for bite ban return but Lancaster sweats on Flood
NORTHAMPTON hooker Dylan Hartley will make his first competitive appearance since his eight-week ban for biting when England warm up for their summer tour of South Africa by facing the Barbarians next week.
But coach Stuart Lancaster has warned that Leicester fly-half Toby Flood will be cut from the squad for the southern hemisphere trip if he cannot prove his fitness for the first Test on 9 June.
Flood’s absence would open the door for Gloucester’s Freddie Burns, who was yesterday among four players added to Lancaster’s party for the Killik Cup clash with the Baa Baas at Twickenham on 27 May.
London Irish flanker Jamie Gibson, Haydn Thomas of Exeter Chiefs and fellow scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth of Saracens have also been drafted in as Harlequins and Leicester players are on Premiership final duty.
Hartley’s return is the most significant arrival, however, following the completion of his suspension for biting Ireland’s Stephen Ferris during the Six Nations victory in March.
Despite his disciplinary record, Lancaster regards Hartley as one of his leaders and the New Zealand-born 26-year-old has been touted as a future England captain by forwards coach Graham Rowntree.
England’s new generation are likely to come up against one of the old in former captain Mike Tindall, after the veteran centre was named in the Barbarians squad alongside Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones.
Lancaster, meanwhile, has admitted Flood faces a race to prove he can overcome an ankle injury that threatens to rule him out of the domestic final and, potentially, the three-Test series against the Springboks. England doctors will assess Flood today and Lancaster said: “Clearly there is no point taking someone who is not available until halfway through the tour.
“He has an ankle injury that will take a couple of weeks. It will depend very much on what our physios and the Leicester physios think at the time. Hopefully he’ll be right for the final and the tour. I have to make sure I have enough cover for South Africa.”