England have received a welcome boost to ease their injury crisis at hooker after Luke Cowan-Dickie made a return to light training at their camp in Jersey.
The Exeter front-row came off at half-time in his club’s Premiership defeat to Saracens last weekend, sparking concerns ahead of the Argentina opener.
England are already without Jamie George for the Autumn Nations Series due to a foot problem, with Jack Singleton and George McGuigan the next options.
Cowan-Dickie’s knee is settling down
But it seems Cowan-Dickie is progressing well at training with forwards coach Richard Cockerill revealing the Lions hooker is in good shape after the injury.
“Luke took part in some units this morning. As far as I’m aware, the knee is settling down. There’s every chance that he will train fully next week,” he said.
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However, should Cowan-Dickie not be fit to feature against the Pumas at Twickenham on November 6, Cockerill has no qualms going with his understudies.
“I’ve been very impressed with both of them. Both of them play in forward packs that are very good at the set-piece, both scrum and line-out, so they fit that mould for us very, very well,” Cockerill said of Singleton and McGuigan.
“They’ve been around squads previously and have been working very hard to take the opportunity if it comes.
“We’ve obviously got some quality hookers in and around the England squad and we have some injury concerns over guys that have been the favoured ones previously. If the opportunity arises, they’re working hard to be ready to take it.”
Compounding England’s injury woes at the moment is concerns over senior players Courtney Lawes and Owen Farrell, who are struggling with head injuries.
Tom Curry or Ellis Genge as captain?
Cockerill stressed that should the pair not recover in time for action, he has every confidence in Tom Curry or Ellis Genge to step up as Red Rose captain.
“They’re still going through the normal process and we don’t have any more news on that. If they’re right, they’ll come into the squad,” he said of Lawes and Farrell.
“If they’re not, we’ll do everything we can to make sure they’re fully recovered before they come back in.
“We’ve got lots of good leaders in the squad. Eddie will have an idea of who he wants to have as captain for the autumn. There’s a long time to go yet and nobody has been ruled out of the captaincy equation.
“We’ve got guys that have captained their clubs and we’ve got guys leading behind the scenes anyway in their own way. We’ve got lots of options that give opportunities to somebody else to potentially step up if needed.
“We’re worrying about how we’re going to play and preparing the team as well as we can. The captaincy is really a secondary thought behind getting as well prepared as we can.”