England must take on world champions South Africa without Immanuel Feyi-Waboso after their star wing was ruled out of Saturday’s Allianz Stadium showdown.
Feyi-Waboso suffered a head injury while trying to prevent Australia from scoring a try in the 50th minute of the 42-37 defeat and has been withdrawn from the 36-man squad that will prepare for the Springboks’ visit to south-west London.
The second loss of England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign has taken a heavy toll, with Tom Curry already confirmed as unavailable after he was knocked out in the act of making a tackle against the Wallabies.
Bath’s Ted Hill has been called up as back-row cover to fill the void created by Curry’s absence, while Tom Roebuck of Sale has been summoned to provide a back-three alternative to Feyi-Waboso.
Losing Feyi-Waboso and Curry for the main event of the autumn – a grudge rematch of last year’s World Cup semi-final – is a major setback to head coach Steve Borthwick, who is seeking to end a run of four successive defeats.
Feyi-Waboso only made his debut in the Six Nations but is already one of the first names on the teamsheet due to the cutting edge he gives England’s backline, which is reflected in his strike-rate of five tries in eight appearances.
England led Australia 15-3 when Curry left the field after being struck by Rob Valentini’s knee and their control of the game faded without their most effective breakdown operator.
Ben Curry and Sam Underhill will now compete for the No 7 jersey with Ollie Sleightholme, who crossed twice as a replacement against the Wallabies, in pole position to take over from Feyi-Waboso.
England must rescue their autumn by toppling the Springboks with Japan visiting Twickenham a week later to close the schedule.
A run of five defeats in six matches has been characterised by the squandering of winning positions with Saturday’s overtime loss to Australia the most dramatic example yet.
“We’re testing fans’ patience, testing our patience. It feels like we won the game twice against Australia and then managed to lose it. Frustrating,” No 8 Ben Earl said.
“Not same old problems, different problems, but the same overwhelming feeling of another game that we’ve let slip. So food for thought.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s a lack of effort, it really doesn’t. It just feels like every game is just throwing up a different scenario that we might not have experienced before as a team.
“We’ll have to go through some more hurt to find our way through it and maybe, hopefully, look back over the next couple of weeks and months and years, and say that was a really important lesson.
“This team’s always been brilliant at responding when questions have been asked of us and our character. And we need to respond.
“We want to win for our fans. We want to win for ourselves because it’s bit of a tedious feeling coming into the sheds for a second time in consecutive weeks and feeling like it’s another game that was there to win.”
England’s 36-player squad to face South Africa
Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester), Alex Coles (Northampton), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Trevor Davison (Northampton), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Ben Earl (Saracens), Charlie Ewels (Bath), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Jamie George (Saracens), Ted Hill (Bath Rugby), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Martin (Leicester), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Will Stuart (Bath), Sam Underhill (Bath).
Backs: Elliot Daly (Saracens), George Ford (Sale), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Northampton), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Luke Northmore (Harlequins), Harry Randall (Bristol), Tom Roebuck (Sale), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton), Fin Smith (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester).