Rugby World Cup 2019: England suffer late blow as team doctor quits on eve of tournament

Phil Riley left his role with the national team due to what the RFU say were ‘personal reasons’ after England’s final World Cup warm-up match

England have suffered a blow on the eve of the Rugby World Cup after it emerged their team doctor quit following the final warm-up match, becoming the third medic to leave during the Eddie Jones era.

Phil Riley quit his role as England men’s senior team doctor following the victory over Italy in Newcastle, which took place on 6 September two days before England flew out to Japan to begin their World Cup preparations.

Riley had worked as a consultant with the RFU across age-grade teams and the England Saxons – the former England ‘B team’ – since 2002, and has also held positions with football clubs such as Bolton Wanderers, Manchester United’s academy and England Under-19s. He was also involved with Team Sky for five years between 2010 and 2016, and had roles with the England men’s and women’s hockey teams and was chief medical officer with Team GB’s para-swimming team.

A Rugby Football Union spokesman said that Riley left his role due to “personal reasons”, though the development is a blow to England’s preparations as Jones plots to win the World Cup.

Riley had only been in the job since October 2018, having replaced Rob Young – who coincidentally is the man that has been drafted in for the Japan 2019 campaign as emergency cover.

Young left the role himself after little more than a year – also due to ‘personal reasons - having only taken it up in 2017 when Nigel Jones was replaced. But it’s understood that he departed the England set-up on good terms with Jones, which is why he was open to helping the national team in a time of desperate need.

Nigel Jones left in December 2016 in what was described at the time as a decision by Eddie Jones to “freshen things up”, with the doctor having been installed for the final year of Stuart Lancaster’s reign in charge.

The news follows a trend of high turnover within Jones’s backroom staff and the RFU as a whole, which shows no signs of letting up.

Riley’s sudden exit is a blow to the playing squad too, given he was held in high regard by a number of the current team as well as those recently involved with England.

Speaking about the role Riley played in his recent recovery from deep vein thrombosis, which cost him any chance of cementing his place on the plane to Japan.

“I've known him for nine years now and we've been very close for that time,” Robson said in May. “We were chatting every day about it and he's still been in touch every week, checking up on me. Even just as a friend really which is nice. We're definitely grateful, not just me but my whole family, are very grateful for all the staff that helped that week and to find it as quickly as we could.”