England are sweating on the fitness of Tommy Freeman and Ollie Chessum after the British and Irish Lions duo emerged as doubts for Saturday’s clash with New Zealand.
Both players sustained injuries in last weekend’s 38-18 victory over Fiji, forcing them to miss Monday’s practice session and placing uncertainty over their ability to train this week.
Freeman was replaced in the 67th minute of England’s ninth successive Test win because of a hamstring strain, resulting in Henry Arundell’s try-scoring cameo off the bench.
Chessum was also unable to finish the match due to a foot problem and the second row was seen using crutches at the squad’s Surrey base on Monday.
Head coach Steve Borthwick therefore faces the prospect of losing two certain starters for the visit of the All Blacks to Allianz Stadium in the main event of the autumn’s four fixtures.
If Freeman is ruled out, England can call on Tom Roebuck following his recovery from the ankle ligament damage that forced him to miss out against Fiji, with Arundell an option to provide bench cover once again.
Should Chessum fail to receive the green light, Maro Itoje and Alex Coles will form the second row with Chandler Cunningham-South the likely replacement lock.
England hope to name their team on Tuesday but the uncertainty over Freeman and Chessum, who were both Test starters on the Lions tour to Australia during the summer, means the announcement may be delayed until Thursday.
Adding to the possibilities at full-back is Elliot Daly’s return to full training after being given the all-clear over his fractured forearm by a specialist.
However, Daly has not played since suffering the injury for the Lions against the Queensland Reds on July 2, ending what was shaping up to be a successful tour for the versatile Saracens veteran.
Freddie Steward started at full-back for the autumn opener against Australia before Borthwick turned to Marcus Smith for the showdown with Fiji.
“Elliot’s a quality player, he a great leader and has great experience. He’s a great bloke off the field as well, really funny, but he’s a great leader, great experience,” scrum-half Alex Mitchell said of his Lions team-mate.
“He’s shown that he can play full-back, anywhere in the back three and in the centres – and you have to be a real classy individual to be able to do that.
“He’s proved that time and time again and to have that extra pair of eyes at the back is always helpful, as well as his kicking game.”
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England have lost their last three matches against New Zealand and flanker Sam Underhill has warned his team-mates that they can not afford to switch off for a moment against the side ranked second in the world.
“You have to be alive to everything,” Underhill said. “As a team they are incredibly good decision makers and they take advantage of teams that are slow to react to things.
“I have played them four times now and the physical intensity is very high and the game is very fast.”
