England injury woes lessen

Gomarsall had bruised his left shin, Grewcock had broken the second toe of his left foot, after being stood on by team-mate Ben Cohen in the warm-up, and Hill had a small tear to his left hamstring.

Armed with this medical read-out, head coach Clive Woodward predicted that only Dawson was likely to be unavailable for selection.

If he is correct, then Bracken will start against South Africa, with Gomarsall on the replacement bench. That means Martyn Wood, the Bath scrum-half, would have made a fruitless visit to Australia. Wood is expected to arrive in Perth at midnight local time having rushed to Heathrow to catch a flight in time to answer what, at one stage, appeared to be a crisis call.

Under tournament rules, Wood is not allowed to have any contact with the England players until it is decided he can officially join the squad.

For that to happen, Woodward would need to know by Thursday that one of his scrum-halves is much worse then he believes is the case.

Woodward explained that Wood, if not required, would be put back on a plane to London on Thursday to be able to play for Bath at the weekend.

All of this is hardly ideal preparation to face the Springboks but Woodward insisted it was not causing too much disruption and his players could go into the match without needing any more training sessions.

He added: "I believe everyone will be fit except for Dawson. Kyran told me before the match against Georgia that his back meant he wasn't completely happy and he was right to be honest because we had another scrum-half available.

"Grewcock didn't know until half-time that he had broken his toe and he can play if required in the next two matches. Hill has a hamstring strain and we will know on Wednesday if he is going to play. Like Dawson, I rate him 50/50.

"We will make a decision 48 hours before kick-off on Bracken and I am convinced he will be okay, which means that Wood will then fly straight back to play for Bath.

"Wood cannot have any contact with the squad and we may never see him but I will be in contact by phone with him when he arrives. Dawson will be fully fit the following week, I am confident of that." If Hill fails to recover from his hamstring problem, Lewis Moody is expected to come into the back row, with Joe Worsley joining the replacements on Saturday.

England's situation is in contrast to that in the Springboks camp, where captain Corne Krige has recovered from a slight injury to make himself available. But the Springboks do have three players unable to train due to knocks, while Hendro Sholtz has bronchitis.

Krige does not expect the Springboks to repeat the violence that marred their last meeting with England and revealed that a fine system has been imposed to keep the players in check.

"At our matches in Europe last autumn we kept an account of penalties given away and, thanks to this monitoring, habitual criminals have been spoken to and our disciplinary record has improved," said Krige.

The fine system South Africa operate is determined by the management, with fines levied depending on the offence.

Meanwhile, Rupeni Caucaunibuca, the Fijian wing cited for foul play against France, has been banned for two matches but will be free to play in the possible pool-deciding clash against Scotland on 1 November.

A Rugby World Cup disciplinary panel imposed the ban following a citing report after Fiji's 61-18 loss to France. Caucaunibuca scored a brilliant solo try but then struck French flanker Olivier Magne in the head during a brawl. He misses the games with Japan and USA.

Caucaunibuca issued a statement in mitigation before his ban and said: "I come from a remote village in Fiji where I am considered an example for the rest of our people. Not only have I let down my local people but I feel I've let down the whole of Fiji and my team-mates.

"I got involved because I thought one of my team-mates was helpless and was going to be hurt. I reacted wrongly and should not have struck Magne."