Steve Borthwick suffers blow ahead of England's 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign in France, as starting scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet ruled out of tournament with ankle injury; World Cup runs from September 8 to October 28; England's opening game vs Argentina in Marseille on September 9
Monday 14 August 2023 17:00, UK
England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet will miss the whole of the Rugby World Cup after injuring his ankle during Saturday's warm-up win over Wales.
The Leicester Tigers player accidentally collided with team-mate Ollie Lawrence and had to be helped from the field during the 19-17 victory at Twickenham, and the RFU has now confirmed he will require surgery.
Northampton's Alex Mitchell has replaced Van Poortvliet in England's 33-player squad, joining Danny Care and Ben Youngs as options at No 9 for next month's tournament in France.
"It's really bad luck for Jack, and we send him our very best wishes for a swift and successful recovery," England head coach Steve Borthwick said on Monday.
Van Poortvliet, 22, had established himself as England's first-choice scrum-half, starting all five Six Nations Tests earlier this year, so his absence gives Borthwick a dilemma ahead of the World Cup.
England are also sweating on the involvement of captain and fly-half Owen Farrell with the 31-year-old in danger of missing the start of the World Cup after he was sent off for a high tackle on Wales' Taine Basham.
Farrell will appear before a video disciplinary hearing on Tuesday to learn the length of his ban, with a mid-range punishment for a dangerous tackle six matches.
Farrell was punished for the same offence in January, with an initial four-week suspension reduced to three.
England begin their campaign against Argentina in Marseille on September 9 before further pool matches against Japan (September 17), Chile (September 23) and Samoa (October 7).
Borthwick's men play two further warm-up games ahead of the World Cup - against Ireland in Dublin this coming Saturday and then versus Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday August 26.
England secured victory from the jaws of defeat at home to Wales in their latest Rugby World Cup warm-up clash, but they emerged from it with more negatives than positives.
George Ford's penalty with four minutes to go saw England pip Wales 19-17 from a position of 17-9 behind, but only after three sin-binnings to Henry Arundell, Ellis Genge and Freddie Steward, and a red card to skipper Farrell.
Disciplinary issues and Farrell's dismissal may be the headline, but there were several other concerns from the day for Borthwick too.
Farrell faces a ban, scrum-half Van Poortvliet was carried off, the scrum performed poorly, and England's attack again failed to fire.
