KEY POINTS:
VERSAILLES - England coach Brian Ashton faces the supreme test of his career this week as he is forced to wade through the chaos of his disintegrating squad to prepare a team for the toughest game of his tenure.
Facing South Africa in the key Pool A game on Saturday (NZ time) was going to be tough enough in any circumstances. Now, one week into the tournament, Ashton is losing players in every direction.
First five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson, who missed the opening 28-10 victory over the United States with ankle ligament damage, remains a long shot and was not named in the team to face the Springboks at the Stade de France.
Olly Barkley, one of the few players to impress in Lens, was set to continue in his place but another training injury, this time a damaged hip flexor, means he will undergo a scan later today.
Captain Phil Vickery will also miss their next two games after being suspended for a kick in the US game.
To complete Ashton's woes, backs Mathew Tait and Danny Hipkiss, among the few truly creative talents in the squad, have both been in isolation with illness since the weekend and are both struggling to make the bench place Ashton has left open.
The coach had already made several changes from the team who performed so poorly against the United States, with former captain Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley and Mark Cueto left out and Jason Robinson switching to fullback.
Winger Paul Sackey and back rowers Martin Corry and Nick Easter have been named in the starting XV.
"I haven't had time to think about the options but I'm not banking on going to bed tonight," the coach told a news conference at the team's hotel.
"If Olly's not fit and Jonny becomes fit...we don't know the nature of Olly's injuries and are not entirely certain where Jonny is in his rehabilitation."
Wilkinson was running and kicking for the first time in but if he or Barkley do not make it Ashton has got real problems, not least in the goalkicking department
Centre Mike Catt could move inside, with replacement Andy Farrell another option, though neither are regular kickers. There is also the option to fly out a replacement, who must come 48 hours before kickoff with one player going home.
Toby Flood, unlucky to be left out of the original squad, or Charlie Hodgson, who has been out for months with knee ligament damage, would be the frontrunners.
Ashton said he had recalled former captain Corry to boost the lineout while he expects Easter, who scored four close-range tries in the warm-up win over Wales last month, to introduce some threat from the base of the scrum.
Ashton said that Dallaglio, ineffective on Saturday, had not been dropped and the changes had been in response to England's poor showing in Lens.
"It influenced selection to some extent. When you see a performance like that you hope pretty fervently that you never see anything like it again," he said.
- REUTERS
