England have called Max Ojomoh into their 35-man squad ahead of their final match of the Guinness Six Nations against Wales as a replacement for his injured Bath team-mate Ollie Lawrence.
Despite a handful of players gingerly leaving Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium pitch on Sunday in the victory over Italy, Lawrence is the only player to drop out of the squad through injury with what appeared to be a serious Achilles problem.
England head coach Steve Borthwick had a bleak initial diagnosis immediately after the 47-24 win, saying: “It’s an Achilles injury that we’ll know more about in the next 48 hours when he has scans and sees a specialist.
“Fingers crossed, it’s not quite as severe as we fear it might be. He’ll get the very, very best care and he’ll see the very, very best people to be looked after.
“It looks like it could be a real tough injury. I’m hesitant to say exactly without any detailed assessment of it in terms of scans and everything like that, but it looks like a tough injury for him.”
Lawrence’s uncapped Bath team-mate Ojomoh, 24, is fresh from an eye-catching England A performance against Ireland A, which was clearly enough to earn a call-up to the senior squad.
He will help England prepare for the final match of the Championship, where England can top the table before France host Scotland at the Stade de France.
England squad
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Tom Willis (Saracens)
Backs
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
News, stats, live rugby and more! Download the new RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!
Thank goodness there was no return for failed centres.