Tick, tock.

England are still sweating on the fitness of captain Dylan Hartley and Lions star Elliot Daly for this weekend’s crucial clash with Ireland at Twickenham.

On Tuesday both players were given an extra 24 hours in their efforts to prove their fitness to face Ireland, after Jones named a bloated 29-man squad for their final Six Nations match.

Hartley missed the loss to France with a calf problem, while Daly injured his foot in that defeat. It emerged yesterday afternoon that both players trained, and were expected to be fit.

But later that afternoon reports came through revealing both players suffered setbacks in training. England have now delayed naming their team until 1pm tomorrow as a result.