Kyle Sinckler injury adds to Steve Borthwick’s World Cup crisis as he becomes England’s latest absentee after being ruled out of Fiji clash
- Prop Kyle Sinckler will miss England’s game against Fiji due to a pectoral injury
- Captain Owen Farrell and No 8 Billy Vunipola are also both banned for the game
- England get their World Cup underway against Argentina on September 9
- Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results
England’s disastrous World Cup preparations continued as Kyle Sinckler became the ninth player on Steve Borthwick’s casualty list.
The prop is understood to be carrying a pectoral injury that will rule him out of Saturday’s game against Fiji, leaving him with a race to be fit for the opening World Cup group match with Argentina.
Sinckler was running at yesterday’s captains run at Twickenham but Borthwick is desperately low on man-power as the main event draws closer.
Captain Owen Farrell and No 8 Billy Vunipola are banned, while winger Anthony Watson and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet have both been ruled out through injury.
Elliot Daly, Henry Arundell, Tom Curry and George Martin are among the short-term absentees, as Borthwick prepares to formalise his final 33-man squad on Monday.
Kyle Sinckler is set to miss England’s World Cup warm-up match against Fiji with an injury
It is the latest blow for head coach Steve Borthwick, who is already missing several key players
Prop Joe Heyes has been around camp to provide cover for Sinckler, with England scheduled to fly out to France next week.
In a message of defiance, coach Kevin Sinfield said on Friday: ‘We didn’t envisage encountering as many challenges as we have had, but it will prepare us for what’s to come when we get to France.
‘In many ways the fact that we’re dealing with this now hopefully makes it easier for us when we get to France.
‘We were a tight group already, but how you handle those setbacks and those obstacles are really important to how the team moves forward and how the team functions.
‘After each one of those blows – if you call them that – we’ve got back up and gone again. We’ll continue to do that. These obstacles will continue to bring us closer together.
‘In another group, in one that wasn’t as experienced or as hungry to do well, it might have been really, really challenging for us.
‘When things start to pull apart there are fractures – groups start to break off and spend time together, sitting together and having separate meetings. There is none of that.’
England are trying to build momentum ahead of their World Cup opener against Argentina
Borthwick’s side were thrashed 29-10 by Ireland in Dublin last weekend and are in poor form
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