Owen Farrell should be fit for England’s Calcutta Cup meeting with Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday despite injuring his leg in training.
The 25-year-old centre left training early on Thursday, but is expected to feature in Friday’s captains’ run.
“He ran into someone at training, simple as that,” said head coach Eddie Jones, who initially joked Farrell had collided with the Australian’s dog.
“He’s in doubt but we will see. He should be right.”
Victory for England over Scotland would give the defending Six Nations champions a record-equalling 18th consecutive win and put them one win away from a second straight Grand Slam.
“It’s the oldest international fixture and it means a lot to both countries,” said Jones.
“I feel honoured and humbled to be part of such a historic occasion. I treasure the experience.”
Number eight Billy Vunipola has been named on the bench against Scotland after making his comeback from a knee injury last weekend.
Nathan Hughes will continue in the position in an unchanged England pack.
The backline shows three changes, with scrum-half Ben Youngs, centre Jonathan Joseph and wing Jack Nowell returning.
Loose-head prop Joe Marler will lead the team out on his 50th cap, while fit-again wing Anthony Watson also returns to the matchday squad.
“I congratulate Joe,” Jones added. “I’ve coached a lot of good players and he is certainly one of the best. He is an honest and committed team man and a fine individual.”
On Vunipola, he explained: “He’s one of our best players, but he’s not ready to start yet.”
England’s replacements have repeatedly salvaged games so far in the Six Nations and Jones admits he is unsure why his side have yet to start well.
“If I knew, I would fix it,” he said. “But we have been ahead in the 80th minute – and that’s all that counts.”
After the fitful display against Italy, Jones says England have prepared to deliver their best performance of the Championship against Scotland.
“We have varied [the preparation] up a bit, we have changed the way we have trained considerably,” he said.
“The intensity of training has improved, we are moving towards our best performance. We are in excellent condition.”
England team
Brown; Nowell, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley (captain), Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Itoje, Haskell, Hughes.
Replacements: George, M Vunipola, Sinckler, Wood, B Vunipola, Care, Te’o, Watson
bbc