• Luke Cowan-Dickie goes home from Algarve for family reasons• Mako Vunipola also misses training with eye problemEngland are taking the scenic route into this Six Nations, opting to relocate from Portugal to
Paris in the lead‑up to their opening fixture against
France rather than returning to home comforts. A few days in the Algarve paid off a year ago when they secured a resounding round‑one win in
Dublin but even the best-laid plans can be disrupted at any time.
In this instance the Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who had been pressing for Jamie George’s starting place, has had to return to the
UK for family reasons, opening up the prospect of Bath’s Tom Dunn winning an unexpected first cap off the bench.