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Rugby: Is The Game Becoming Too Dangerous?
Twelve players have dropped out of Martin Johnson's original squad with injuries, with seven of them having been strong contenders to start at Twickenham.
It has sparked a debate about whether the injuries are an autumn spike - a recognised occurrence in rugby - or if they reveal something more worrying about safety.
The Rugby Football Union has confessed to fears about releasing the game's injury statistics but its medical director is pushing for them to be made public in January.
In an interview with Sky News, Dr Simon Kemp - the RFU's medical director - said he'd so far only seen preliminary figures for top-flight games in the 2008/9 season.
He said he could not say whether they showed an increase on the average one thousand injuries per season since auditing began in 2002.
But he did say it was his strong hope that the numbers can be made public in the New Year, despite misgivings among some in the game.
"Professional rugby is a fledgling industry," said Dr Kemp. "And people other than the medics have had some concerns at how those figures would be interpreted.
"So to date we haven't been able to publicly release them.
"The group I lead that collects these figures hopes very strongly that we'll be in a position to release them in January."
Dr Kemp, the former England team doctor, added: 'I'm confident that the game will behave as responsibly as it's always behaved in these matters.
"You know we're in a position where we are collecting figures. Not all sports do that. This isn't about naming and shaming. We're confident that we're addressing the perceived risks within our game responsibly."
Dr Kemp revealed that, in rugby union's professional era, the average weight of a player has increased by 10 kilos, they are more powerful and there are around 450 collisions in every top flight game.
Some, including the respected former British & Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan, believe the current England injury toll may just be a blip.
"There are a number of injuries to England players but that might not reflect what's happening through the game," he said.
'It's just that you might be unlucky with that group. A hamstring to Julian White - that's nothing to do with the way the game is.
"Sometimes things like that happen. I think until you've got the right evidence and it's all been collected and collated, it's very difficult to start saying that the game's producing more significant injuries."
© 2009 Sky News, all rights reserved.
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