England need a quick fix to stop sinking

VUNIPOLA LEAVES HUGE HOLE WITH PUMAS SET TO POUNCE

- Adam Hathaway

STEVE BORTHWICK'S England made it to the O2 Arena yesterday safely by boat but their World Cup campaign is sending out distress signals and heading for the rocks.

They face Argentina in their opening Pool D game in Marseille on September 9 and will do it with no first-choice captain and fly-half, no full-time No.8 and without the scrum-half who started every game in the Six Nations.

Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola are both banned but will stay with the squad and the pair are out of the Pumas match.

Jack van Poortvliet is out for the foreseeable future with an ankle injury. Borthwick surely would have fancied a gentle run-in to the World Cup but, instead, he has been beset by injury problems and disciplinary headaches.