Hooker Jamie George will miss England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland after dropping out of the squad’s pre-tournament training camp with a hamstring problem.
The former England captain replaced Theo Dan in the second half of Saracens’ Champions Cup pool game on Sunday but the 34-year-old left the pitch in the closing minutes.
His club-mate Dan and Sale’s Luke Cowan-Dickie are now set to contest the starting shirt in Dublin, with Northampton’s Curtis Langdon also now added to the squad.
First-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell, 27, could also miss the game with a knee problem.
The Northampton player, who missed the autumn Tests with a neck injury, came off late in his side’s win against Munster on Friday.
However Mitchell, unlike George, will travel to the camp in Girona, with England keen to maximise his chances of facing Ireland.
Northampton coach Phil Dowson was optimistic Mitchell would recover in time for the game on 1 February, saying he believed there was “nothing structural” to the injury and it was a soft-tissue problem similar to a “dead leg”.
With Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet also injured, Raffi Quirke and Ben Spencer have been called up to the squad, leaving Harry Randall as the only fit scrum-half from coach Steve Borthwick’s original selection.
