England will be without star second row Maro Itoje for their final Six Nations game against Scotland on Saturday after the Saracens lock conceded defeat in his battle for fitness.
The versatile 24-year-old last week suffered a setback in his bid to return from a knee injury that has ruined his Six Nations. Itoje was hurt in the romp over Ireland on the opening weekend of the tournament and after giving up on his race to be fit has now been omitted from a 31-man training squad for the final-round fixture at Twickenham.
"Maro Itoje has returned to his club Saracens to continue to rehabilitation," the Rugby Football Union confirmed in a statement.
England coach Eddie Jones was non-committal when quizzed for the latest on Itoje's condition in the wake of Saturday's destruction of wooden spoon magnets Italy, declaring "we'll just wait and see", but the second row's Championship is now definitively over after just 53 minutes of game time.
Originally it was hoped he would return to face the Azzurri only to injure the same right knee that was hurt in Dublin when taking part in a forwards drill at the squad's Surrey base.
Bizarrely, Jones raised the prospect of the British and Irish Lion being propelled back into the matchday 23 against Italy soon after he had been left out, stating that he could make a rapid recovery.
While the loss of Itoje is a blow, England can at least take heart from the performance of George Kruis at Twickenham on Saturday.
Jones singled out Kruis as his man of the match on the grounds of his work-rate and the 29-year-old is set to continue his second-row partnership with Joe Launchbury against the Scots.
Fly-half Marcus Smith has been called into title-chasing England's training squad for the first time in this Six Nations in a snub to Danny Cipriani, who does not appear to be in Jones' World Cup plans.
Additional reporting by agencies
