Wilson in a race against time

Despite getting over the initial pain of his nerve injury in his neck, Wilson still hasn't got the much needed strength back in his arms which will be key to sustain England's formidable scrum pack.

Dan Cole, who was out for nearly a year with a neck and then foot injury, started in Cardiff in place of Wilson and helped England secure a 21-16 victory over Wales.

And England head coach Lancaster admits Wilson is unlikely to feature against Italy on Saturday with the Bath front rower still nowhere near full fitness.

"We're optimistic it's not [a potential long-term problem] but I was pretty optimistic he was going to play, wasn't I?" said Lancaster on Wilson.

"His pain's gone but his strength hasn't quite returned. Sometimes these things can take two weeks sometimes they can take longer … there's not an exact science as to how quickly a nerve that has had a bang on it takes to recover.

"Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later but it's hard to tell to be honest."

Wilson is staying in the England camp as part of his rehabilitation along with Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Kyle Eastmond and Brad Barritt.

However Lancaster has kept the faith in his players and retained last week's matchday 23 for the visit of the Azzurri this Saturday, the head coach delighted by his front row options despite Wilson's absence.

"I'd seen how hard he'd worked on his fitness and rehab," Lancaster said of Cole.

"He'd trained fully with us. I'd have been more apprehensive if he hadn't done a full week's training leading into the game. He was also 100 per cent ready to play in his own mind.

"It was also another step forward for Kieran Brookes. I thought his contribution from the bench was excellent. It's a good position to be in with Kieran, Henry Thomas and hopefully Davey coming back. We can't have too many tight-heads."

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