England’s Nations Championship plans hit by Pepper and Van Rensburg double blow

• Bath flanker Pepper injured ankle at Gloucester on Friday

• Bristol’s Van Rensburg advised to rest after two concussions

England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, said he will be monitoring this weekend’s domestic Prem games with some trepidation. Already he has lost at least two potentially key squad members for the entire autumn period in the form of Guy Pepper and Benhard van Rensburg, with doubts still hanging over his first-choice fly-half Fin Smith and fresh injury uncertainty emerging on virtually a daily basis.

Pepper’s involvement always looked improbable from the moment he suffered a nasty-looking ankle injury against Gloucester last Friday. The young Bath flanker will be sidelined for several weeks, as will the Bristol centre Van Rensburg who has been advised to rest and recuperate after two heavy concussions within the past three months.

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