Clive Woodward last night put a brave face on the latest injury setback to affect England's Six Nations campaign.
Wasps flanker Joe Worsley is likely to miss the Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, joining a long casualty list.
Worsley suffered a hamstring twinge during the 50-9 victory over Italy on Sunday and has been rated "very doubtful" by Woodward to make his starting line-up, which will be announced today.
Sale Sharks forward Alex Sanderson, who won the last of his five caps against World Cup warm-up opponents France in Marseille last summer, has joined the England squad at their Surrey base.
Woodward must decide whether to hand the 24-year-old a first Six Nations start if, as expected, Worsley is ruled out or call up Sanderson's Sale colleague Chris Jones.
Jones made a try-scoring debut as a replacement in Rome but could now feature at number eight, with captain Lawrence Dallaglio moving to blindside flanker.
Both Dallaglio, who took a blow on his hand in Rome, and centre Jason Robinson (finger) are not rated as fitness concerns, while scrumhalf Andy Gomarsall is confident he will shake off a minor thigh strain.
Before the tournament started last weekend, Woodward found himself without the services of Jonny Wilkinson, Charlie Hodgson, Mike Tindall, Stuart Abbott, Mike Catt, James Simpson-Daniel, Julian White and Lewis Moody.
"Joe Worsley is the only real doubt for the weekend," said Woodward. "It is not serious - just a slight twinge to his hamstring - which is why we brought him straight off.
Gomarsall hopes to train today before the England squad head for Edinburgh. "I feel definite in my mind I will be fit for Saturday," said the Gloucester player.
England lock Ben Kay, meanwhile, says the Six Nations champions will be targeting a considerable improvement on their Rome performance when they arrive north of the border.
"I've been surprised how over-hyped the press have made our performance in Rome. I don't think we performed as well as anyone in the press said we did, and the scoreline didn't really reflect the tightness of the game.
"It was some pretty inspirational bits of individual brilliance that made the scoreline as large as it was. It was just frustrating when you know how we can play."
England have won 13 of their last 14 Tests against Scotland, though, and it would be a major upset if the Scots regained the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2000.
Meanwhile, outhalf Frederic Michalak will miss France's Six Nations home match against Italy also on Saturday because of a chest injury. The 21-year-old is replaced by uncapped Julien Peyrelongue, 22, who plays for Biarritz Olympique.
"Michalak has been ruled out because he was still in pain when he woke up," said team manager Jo Maso yesterday when he announced the starting line-up.
"It would have been too risky to ask Frederic to play on Saturday. He will be out of action for at least 10 days." Michalak kicked 15 points in France's 35-17 win over Ireland last weekend.
Coach Bernard Laporte said scrumhalf Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who was handed his first start against Ireland, will take over goal-kicking duties from Michalak.
The French manager said he was confident the other players injured during the Ireland match, including captain Fabien Pelous, number eight Imanol Harinordoquy and centre Damien Traille, would be fully fit to face Italy.
FRANCE (v Italy): Brusque; Clerc, Jauzion, Traille, Dominici; Peyrelongue, Elissalde; Harinordoquy, Magne, Betsen, Pape, Pelous (captain), de Villiers, Servat, Marconnet. Replacements: Bru, Crenca, Auradou, Lievremont, Yachvili, Liebenberg, Elhorga.
