Under-fire England coach Steve Borthwick will learn on Tuesday whether key men Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola will be banned for the start of next month’s Rugby World Cup.
Captain Farrell and No8 Vunipola are both due to attend disciplinary hearings after being sent off for dangerous tackles in England’s two most recent World Cup warm-up matches.
If found guilty, they face six-week bans. Although that can be reduced by mitigating factors, they would still likely miss at least some of England’s pool stage fixtures at the tournament.
Farrell will be facing an independent commission for the second time over his tackle on Wales’s Taine Basham, after World Rugby appealed a decision to exonerate him last week.
Vunipola is then due to make his case on Tuesday evening, having also seen his yellow card for a challenge on Ireland’s Andrew Porter upgraded to a red following a video review.
Losing both players for the start of the Rugby World Cup would be a major blow for Borthwick, who has lost five of his eight matches since succeeding Eddie Jones at the start of the year.
England are due to begin their campaign on 9 September in Marseille against Argentina, their main rivals in a pool which also includes Japan, Samoa and Chile.
Before heading to France they are due to play one final warm-up match against Fiji on Saturday at Twickenham.
Fly-half Farrell has long been England’s go-to player and place kicker, while Vunipola is currently the only specialist No8 in Borthwick’s 33-man World Cup squad.
The former Leicester Tigers head coach should at least have clarity in the next 24 hours, having bemoaned the distraction of Farrell’s case in the run-up to a 29-10 loss in Ireland.
“Hopefully we will find a conclusion on both matters this week and it won’t go into another week,” he said on Saturday. “It’s another challenge that’s been thrown at us.”
It comes after Borthwick and other England chiefs were accused of hampering the team’s progress with retrograde tactics by former Red Rose fly-half Danny Cipriani.
“English rugby is digging its own grave, led by people that do not understand the art of the game,” Cipriani wrote on social media on Sunday. “It’s steeped in tradition and heritage which is out dated and the very thing shackling the game.”
