Steve Borthwick will discover if he must rip up England's World Cup plans in the coming days with Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell both facing bans that would rule them out of the start of the tournament.
Vunipola's red card compounded another horror show in the dismal defeat against Ireland on Saturday, with the former fly-half Danny Cipriani declaring yesterday that "English rugby is digging its own grave" as countless supporters lose faith in Borthwick's side.
Vunipola was sent off for a high tackle in Dublin - seven days after Farrell's dismissal - and both players will learn their fates at hearings this week. Farrell was cleared at his initial hearing last week but after World Rugby appealed against that decision he must return to the dock again tomorrow.
Vunipola's red card is arguably more disastrous for Borthwick after he was named as the only No 8 in his 33-man World Cup squad but it is hard to think of two players upon whom the England head coach is more reliant.
Vunipola is just back from a long-term knee injury but Borthwick had stated his intention for the No 8 to "play as much as he possibly can" in England's warm-up campaign.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 21, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 21, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Post Office boss asked about his pay and bonuses 'more than expected', says board member
The chair of the Post Office's remuneration committee has said she was surprised at how frequently the company's boss, Nick Read, asked about his pay and bonuses, given the pressure it was under due to the ongoing fallout from the Horizon IT scandal.
Murdoch property group raises offer for Rightmove to £6.2bn as deadline looms
Britain's booming wine-growing industry has been compared to \"California in the 70s\", with annual production more than doubling to 12m bottles a year, according to a report.
Viral load Social media putting rare species in danger
With its striking plumage, impressive size and rowdy displays, a capercaillie is many birders' dream. Only about 530 of the woodland grouse survive in the wild, most in Scotland's Cairngorms national park.
Toll of 20 dead in storm-hit south-eastern US could rise as flooding hampers rescues
Hurricane Helene has reportedly killed at least 20 people and left 4m consumers without power across the south-eastern United States after crashing ashore in north-western Florida late on Thursday as a potent category 4 hurricane, according to officials.
Closing borders Electoral pressures put EU's freedom of movement under threat
In 2015, when more than 1.3 million people headed to Europe, mostly fleeing a brutal war in Syria, the response of Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to say: \"Wir schaffen das\" (\"We can manage this\"), and open the country's borders.
Fight does not end here, say critics, as Wimbledon wins the go-ahead to expand
Wimbledon's controversial plans to build 39 new tennis courts have been given the green light after a deputy mayor of London ruled that the \"very significant benefits\" of the scheme outweighed any potential harm to the environment.
Sue Gray Advisers to the PM are often targets of sniping but is it sustainable?
For someone who was not even in Liverpool for the Labour party conference, Sue Gray was the subject of a remarkable amount of conversation.
Revealed Alli gave PM a further £16,000 gift of clothing
Keir Starmer was given a further £16,000 worth of clothes by the Labour peer Waheed Alli, which was declared as money for his private office, the Guardian can reveal.
Tributes paid to 'one of a kind' in seven decades on stage and screen
Maggie Smith, the prolific, awardwinning actor described by peers as being \"one of a kind\" and possessed of a \"sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent\", has died aged 89.
Diplomacy Netanyahu insists Israel is winning on 'seven fronts'
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, shrugged off global appeals for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza yesterday, using a defiant speech at the UN general assembly to denounce the world body as an \"antisemitic swamp\" and insist Israel is \"winning\" its multi-front wars.