Scrumhalf blow for England
A shoulder injury has ruled England scrumhalf Ben Youngs out of the third and final Test against series winners South Africa in Port Elizabeth Saturday.
The Leicester Tigers No.9 starred in the 27-36 second Test defeat in Johannesburg at the weekend, scoring two opportunist second-half tries to spark a brave comeback.
Although England have a game against the Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom Tuesday, coach Stuart Lancaster was sure to rest Youngs ahead of the Test with the tourists trying to avoid a whitewash after also losing the first in Durban.
Harlequins Karl Dickson is expected to arrive in South Africa Monday as a replacement and could face the BaaBaas, a team composed of northern-based players from the First Division – a second tier of the domestic competitions.
That would leave Lee Dickson and Danny Care to fight for the No.9 shirt against the Springboks, who have won their last nine clashes with England, including the 2007 World Cup Final in Paris.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said Youngs was understandably disappointed and that Dickson, who had just landed in Alicante for a week's holiday when he got the call, will join up with the squad on Monday.
The 42-year-old coach said: "Ben has picked up a shoulder injury, which only presented itself at the end of the game. After a night's sleep he was struggling to move it and went for some imaging, which ruled him out of the tour.
"He was excellent for us in the second Test and is devastated. But these opportunities come along for other players, Danny Care and Lee Dickson now have that chance. We've got Lee Dickson's brother Karl winging in from Alicante.
"We don't want to risk both nines in the Tuesday game, so Karl is on his way here."
Lancaster has had time to reflect on the defeat to the Springboks, when a horror start which led to a deficit of 19 points at one point in the opening half ultimately cost England the chance of a historic victory.
England's biggest ever deficit to overturn for a Test win in currently 12 points – the 32-31 victory over Australia in 2002 – and beating that looked possible when the gap was closed to four, before a late JP Pietersen try secured the home win.
Lancaster, always keen to look forward, said the sense of frustration after pushing South Africa so close can inspire his side ahead of the final Test in Port Elizabeth next Saturday and added he expects changes in personnel.
He said: "There are lots of positives, particularly second half. As we all know, that start in the first 20 minutes put us under real pressure but we came back into the game.
"The boys have had the day off today, we'll review it in the morning. They'll not train again tomorrow so we'll keep it light with a weights session.
"There was a sense of frustration in the dressing room after the game and I've said to them it is about bottling that frustration and channelling it into Saturday's Test.
"We've got one or two changes that we might make and there's an enforced chance with Ben already so it will freshen things up, bring some new people into the team and see how we go."
