England are putting on a brave face but the portents for tomorrow's first Test against South Africa in Bloemfontein are increasingly ominous. Harlequins wing Dave Strettle has already had to withdraw because of illness and further amendments to Brian Ashton's original starting XV cannot be ruled out.
At present the only change is Iain Balshaw on the right wing in place of Strettle, who needed hospital treatment for dehydration after contracting the bug that affected Jonny Wilkinson and several others this week. There is a real question mark, however, over Andy Farrell, who is suffering from the same virus and missed training yesterday.
The former British rugby league captain was taken so ill during practice yesterday he eventually lay down behind the goalposts and went to sleep.
Newcastle's Toby Flood would be a ready-made replacement but England's defence coach, Mike Ford, could not disguise his concern, saying: "I know what sort of character Andy is and he needs to be there for us at the weekend. They're going to running some big forwards down the 10 and 12 channels and we need some physical presence there."
The removal of Strettle's attacking threat is already unsettling. Balshaw's recent form has been mediocre at best and he was omitted from the initial touring party, only called up when Ben Cohen withdrew.
Now, with James Simpson-Daniel also laid low, the Gloucester wing is back in the firing line for an encounter described by the captain, Jason Robinson, as the biggest challenge of his career.
As well as their huge backrow the Boks welcome back the formidable secondrow pairing of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. If England struggle in both scrum and lineout it may be a horribly long afternoon. The forwards coach, John Wells, is not downplaying the consequences.
"If we're brutally honest a lot of our guys have been doing good jobs for their clubs for 60 minutes," said Wells, aware that playing at altitude will make life even harder for his older forwards. "We need these guys to do a job for 80 minutes.
"They all know what's coming. We struggled to impose ourselves in the autumn on a Springbok pack missing four or five of its key members and I suspect we'll experience something not dissimilar this time. They're very direct and their locks and back row can all smash holes."
Wilkinson, at least, has declared himself fit to return to the ground where in 2000 he inspired England to their first big away win over Southern Hemisphere opposition under Clive Woodward's stewardship.
Robinson, though, acknowledges that England have to brace themselves as South Africa seek to inflict a beating like their own 53-3 drubbing at Twickenham in 2002. "It's going to be a very physical game and they're going to try and dominate us in that area," he warned.
Guardian Service
