England will be without Joe Marler when they take on Australia at Twickenham on Saturday after the loosehead prop tested positive for Covid-19.
The RFU revealed that Marler had recorded a positive lateral flow test on Monday, which had since been backed up by a positive PCR test.
He will now isolate for 10 days, as per government guidelines, meaning he could be available for the final game of the Autumn Nation Series against South Africa.
The rest of the squad took extra lateral flow tests, which all came back negative. Results of additional PCR tests are being awaited.
Marler came off the bench to replace Ellis Genge in Saturday’s rout of Tonga at Twickenham. England had a Covid scare for that game too, with captain Owen Farrell sitting out having tested positive.
However, reexamination and additional testing saw Farrell cleared to rejoin the group because he had been the victim of a false positive. He is available to face Australia this weekend, if selected.
