Mike Tindall is a major injury concern for England just 24 hours before their opening Six Nations clash with Italy at Twickenham.
The Gloucester centre hurt his back during an England training session and is now in danger of missing out on the match against the Azzuri.
"Mike is a bit sore,” said England team manager Martin Johnson.
"He was training in the gym yesterday and ricked his back. He is getting some treatment now. We will see how he goes.”
Johnson, who lost Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care from his starting line up yesterday and is also without a number of other front line contenders, insisted there was plenty of depth at outside centre and that he and his side would not be complaining about their misfortunes with injury.
"Jamie Noon is down and we have Mathew Tait who was named on the bench,” explained Johnson, who takes charge of his first Six Nations match having replaced Brian Ashton in the England hot seat last year.
"They can both play at 13.
"We don’t sit around thinking: ‘Oh, we have lost x, y and z’. Guys get hurt and you move on with the next guy. They are good players.
"The statistics say that at least 25% of your squad will be injured at any one point so it will happen.
"But we are thinking about the game. We have been in camp for two weeks and we want to play."
Tindall, a World Cup winner with England in 2003, missed out on selection for the 2005 Lions tour due to injury but an impressive Six Nations could see him make up for that disappointment with a place in the 2009 squad to face the Springboks.
