England's options at second row narrow for second Test

England second row Joe Launchbury is a major doubt for the second Test with the Springboks.

The Wasps man has a calf injury and missed the 42-39 defeat the Springboks in Johanesburg.

With the team due to be named on Thursday it appears he may not be fit in time according to scrum coach Neal Hatley.

“Joe was at training this morning (Tuesday) but was training on his own. He was movingly reasonably well so we’ll see where he is later in the week. We’ll see if he’s able to train tomorrow. We need to see how he feels after seeing the physios.”

A fit Launchbury would almost certainly have started in Bloemfontein, with Nick Isiekwe’s substitution before half-time leaving his chances of starting this week in serious doubt.

Maro Itoje and Jonny Hill are the only two recognised second rows, however Brad Shields has played in the position.

There was better news on Exeter’s Luke Cowan-Dickie who experienced hamstring tightness following the first Test in Johannesburg.

Worcester Warriors’ Jack Singleton joined Eddie Jones’ squad on Monday as England’s third hooker to cover Luke Cowan-Dickie as a result.

Singleton started for England in their 63-45 defeat to the Baa-Baas at Twickenham, but is yet to earn a full Test cap. He also toured with Eddie Jones’ side to Argentina last summer.

“Luke was able to train. We did some live scrums and Luke took part in those. He’s good” Hatley stated.

England are on a four-Test losing run, five matches if you include their defeat to the Barbarians.

“We’ve had a good look at the first Test (in Johanesburg) and have identified the areas that we need to address and the areas which we thought we did well in.”

“First and foremost we want a win. We scored close to 40 points at Ellis Park so we’re pleased with a lot of the things we did in attacking including five tries. It’s just other areas that we need to tighten up on.”