The Bath back, 24, picked up a knock to the chest in England’s win over Fiji on Friday and missed training on Tuesday. “We don’t know yet whether his ligament is totally or partially ruptured, but his World Cup is over”, coach Philippe Saint-Andre said on Sunday.
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Farrell also revealed that No 8 Ben Morgan – who did not train on Monday – has a bang on the knee but stressed that the injury “isn’t serious at all“.
Allen, who crossed for a hat-trick before limping off with a hamstring tear, looks the most serious and the Blues centre could be ruled out of the tournament. We have got to have four so we may have to make a hard decision to replace one of them.
“We just stayed there on the farm, watched X Factor – there’s only so much rugby you can watch – walked the dog round the farm and chilled out”.
Joseph is England’s main threat in midfield and his loss would be a blow to the hosts’ chances of placing one foot in the quarter finals by toppling Wales.
Should Joseph fail to prove his fitness for Staurday night’s game, reports in England say that Exeter’s Henry Slade is the preferred choice to fill in, rather than Sam Burgess.
And the cross-code convert made a sizable impact off the bench alongside the likes of Wasps lock Joe Launchbury and bonus-point hero Billy Vunipola in the Red Rose’s opening 35-11 victory with Fiji.
Barritt’s place in the midfield was set in stone as soon as Joseph was injured, but Farrell’s elevation above Ford would be another surprise. “Thank god the Welsh team play rugby better than they sing“, he quipped. We’ve always said that. We want to put that right this week.
“It’s a huge week for us now before a big game against Wales, but it does feel nice to have one under the belt”.
Joe Launchbury points to England’s success in Cardiff earlier this year as the reason why he is paying little attention to Wales’ injury problems ahead of the pivotal World Cup clash on Saturday.
“It’s no different this week, and I guess it’s up to the guys who aren’t playing to keep pushing and knocking on that door”.
“We’ve never said we were going to pick the same team week in, week out”, he said. “He’s been training there for 12 weeks”, Andy Farrell said.
“This is a game everyone is unbelievably excited about, among the Welsh and England fans and globally as well”.
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I wish you all the best of luck and I look forward to supporting you every step of the way. “Predictions and form in games like this go out the window”, Farrell explained. “If we can match them and give our backs a platform, I would fancy our backs to knock them over”.
