England's World Cup preparations were hit by the sudden departure of team doctor Phil Riley days before the team flew to Japan.
Riley, who had only been in the job since October, left his role following the team’s victory over Italy in their final warm-up match.
A Rugby Football Union spokesman said he had quit for “personal reasons”. Rob Young, whom Riley replaced, has returned to provide cover during the tournament.
Riley is the latest member of Eddie Jones’ backroom staff to leave the England set-up.
Coaches Paul Gustard and Rory Teague came and went, so too head of sports science Dean Benton and head analyst Dan Abrahams. You can throw in a communications officer, team psychologist and physio too.
Jones is unapologetic about how hard he drives his programme, and those working within it.
There is no doubt it has produced results, with England winning 34 of their 44 matches since he took charge after the last World Cup.
They arrive at this tournament as joint second favourites and kick off their campaign tomorrow against Tonga inside the Sapporo Dome.
But Riley’s loss is a blow, given his popularity amongst the squad.
“I've known him nine years now and we've been very close for that time', scrum-half Dan Robson said in May after Riley helped him recover from deep vein thrombosis.
“We were chatting every day about it and he's still been in touch every week, checking up on me. Even just as a friend really, which is nice.”
