More wreckage-sifting for Johnson
Anthony Allen: Leading contender for NZ tour?
England boss Martin Johnson is pondering how to replace injured fly-half Danny Cipriani for the forthcoming tour to New Zealand.
Cipriani faces six months of intensive rehabilitation after suffering a dislocated fracture of his right ankle in Wasps' Guinness Premiership semi-final win over Bath.
The 20-year-old underwent surgery on Sunday night and will remain under observation at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea for the next few days.
The pivot required oxygen as he was stretchered from the pitch at Adams Park after his ankle was caught awkwardly in a tackle and he is unlikely to play for England again this year.
The injury has robbed Cipriani of a chance to go head-to-head with New Zealand's Dan Carter, widely considered the best fly-half in world rugby, and is a wretched way to end what has been a remarkable season.
Cipriani displaced Jonny Wilkinson as England fly-half during the Six Nations and he has earned unprecedented player of the year nominations at the Professional Rugby Players' awards and Guinness Premiership awards.
"We all feel for Danny," said boss Johnson.
"The England medical team will be in regular contact with London Wasps over the next few months regarding his rehabilitation and we all wish Danny a speedy recovery."
Johnson spent the large part of Monday in urgent discussions with Rob Andrew, who will take charge of the tour, and the rest of the England coaching staff about how best to react to the loss of his number one fly-half.
England are also without Wilkinson, who has had a shoulder operation, leaving Charlie Hodgson as the only specialist fly-half option left in the senior squad.
Ryan Lamb, who is currently bound for the Churchill Cup with the England Saxons, would be the obvious like-for-like selection but is not yet the finished article.
Leicester's Andy Goode was not included in any England squads but showed once again in the Tigers' dramatic semi-final win over Lamb's Gloucester, that he does have the temperament for the big occasion.
But England do already have in-built fly-half cover in the shape of inside centres Olly Barkley and Toby Flood, who have both started Test matches in the ten jersey.
Consequently, Johnson and Andrew may look to replace Cipriani with an additional centre and rely on Barkley and Flood to cover Hodgson.
If so, England could look to promote one of Gloucester's Anthony Allen, Wasps' Dominic Waldouck or Leicester's Ollie Smith from the Saxons squad.
There may have been a clue into Johnson's thinking in the announcement of England's 27-man training squad for the traditional end-of-season game against the Barbarians on June 1.
Although Smith and Waldouck were unavailable, Allen was included but Lamb was not with Hodgson and Flood to compete for the fly-half role.
The squad features thirteen full internationals - ten of them in the backs including the likes of Mike Tindall, Jamie Noon, David Strettle and Mathew Tait - but no players from Premiership finalists Leicester and Wasps, who meet at Twickenham 24 hours earlier, or European Challenge Cup finalists Bath and Worcester.