England dealt further blow as two stars replaced in squad

England have confirmed that they have been forced to replace both flanker Tom Curry and wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso following their agonising 42-37 Autumn Nations Series loss to Australia in Twickenham.

Curry, who started for England against New Zealand last weekend, had his match against Australia cut short after a head injury. Attempting to tackle Rob Valetini, Curry positioned his head incorrectly, resulting in a significant blow that forced him off the field within 23 minutes.

Feyi-Waboso sustained a head injury in the 50th minute while attempting to prevent an Australian try during the defeat.

The absence of Feyi-Waboso and Curry is a major setback for head coach Steve Borthwick as he aims to halt a four-match losing streak in the upcoming rematch against South Africa. Feyi-Waboso, who debuted in the Six Nations, has quickly become a key player, contributing five tries in eight appearances and adding a crucial cutting edge to England’s backline.

Both Ted Hill and Tom Roebuck have been re-called into the side.

A statement reads: “Ted Hill (Bath Rugby) and Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks) have been called up to England’s 36-player squad, replacing Tom Curry(Sale Sharks) and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs) as preparations begin for the upcoming Test match against South Africa at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday 16November (kick-off at 5:40 pm, live on TNT Sports).”

“If you lose a world class player early in the game it certainly has an impact. I thought Alex Dombrandt came on and played really well, but clearly the balance of the back row changed at that point,” said Borthwick about the loss of Curry. “You have to adapt to those things and we took a few knocks and bangs and we had to change things in that first half quite early, and then that continued through the second half.

“I will be waiting for the full medical report to understand where everyone is at but I think everyone saw the way Tom was down, he will be unavailable next week.”

England’s 36-player squad:

Forwards

Fin Baxter (Harlequins)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)

Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)

Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)

Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)

Theo Dan (Saracens)

Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints)

Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)

Ben Earl (Saracens)

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)

Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)

Jamie George (Saracens)

Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)

Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)

Maro Itoje (Saracens)

George Martin (Leicester Tigers)

Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)

Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)

Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)

Backs

Elliot Daly (Saracens)

George Ford (Sale Sharks)

Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)

George Furbank (Northampton Saints)

Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)

Alex Lozowski (Saracens)

Luke Northmore (Harlequins)

Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)

Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)

Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)

Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)

Marcus Smith (Harlequins)

Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)

Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)

Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)