Injury-plagued monster once again plagued by injury monster

Ted has had to go home. Scans of his dickie shoulder were sent to specialists back in England and it was decided that his World Cup dream was over. ESPN scrum.com has more:

“Sheridan, who had just returned from reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder, injured the left one in England’s opening World Cup win against Argentina. The Sale loose-head prop has undergone two operations on that shoulder since dislocating it in October 2009.”

The big lad has been hugely unfortunate with injuries during his career. While he has missed an awful lot of rugby for England – he has only played in sixteen Six Nations games from a possible thirty-five since making his debut in November 2004, despite clearly being first-choice loosehead – any time he has come back into the scrum it has become a huge offensive weapon for the white orcs. The difference between a Sheridan-powered scrum and a Corbisiero-powered scrum was readily apparent to those who saw the respective scrummaging efforts of England against Ireland in the World Cup warm-up in August and the final match of the Six Nations in March.

Trinity College alumnus Paul Doran-Jones [he spent most of his time reading The Beano in The Buttery] and improbable Lion Tim Payne are in the picture to be called out as Sheridan’s replacement.

For more, check out ESPN scrum.com.