RUGBY:ENGLAND ARE considering rushing Courtney Lawes and Tom Croft back into their match-day squad for their Calcutta Cup contest against Scotland on Sunday and are optimistic Toby Flood will also be fit enough to feature at Twickenham.

With a first Six Nations title since 2003 up for grabs, the range of options now available to Martin Johnson is as luxurious as it has ever been. Johnson could easily have afforded to delay the return of Lawes and Croft, their mere presence in Bagshot this week having reminded the squad that resting on laurels is out of the question.

Last night, however, the Leeds flanker Hendre Fourie and the Leicester lock George Skivington were released back to their clubs, signalling that Croft and Lawes are firmly in contention for bench roles against the Scots.

Sale’s Charlie Hodgson has also been deemed surplus to requirements, indicating that doubts about Flood’s sore achilles have receded. The Leicester outhalf has been restricted in terms of training over the past week but has clearly been considered fit enough to train fully at the University of Surrey sports village in Guildford today.

Gone, either way, are the days when the withdrawal of one individual created ripples of collective self-doubt. There is no point immediately promoting Lawes and Croft above Louis Deacon and either Tom Wood or James Haskell but the latter trio will now have to raise their games even further.

Simon Shaw is still being monitored following a slight groin niggle, with Lawes having emerged unscathed from his comeback game for Northampton at Exeter on Sunday. He and Croft, who reckoned he was operating at only 80 per cent of his best last weekend, clearly showed enough in training to convince Johnson there is no risk attached to picking them.

“They’re in the mix . . . we’ll see how they go over the next day or two,” Johnson said.