Sidelined.

England coach John Mitchell has confirmed that forward Brad Shields will be absent for up to six weeks, meaning that he is a doubt for their World Cup opener in Japan.

Shields injured his foot in training and will now miss all of England’s warm-up games, and potentially a portion of the tournament itself.

“Brad has got a tear in the lower foot,” assistant coach Mitchell told reporters.

“It’s always a little bit niggly – and it’s four to six weeks for him – but we will continue to appraise his recovery and see where he gets to.”

Alex Dombrandt was called up as a replacement in the 38-man squad, while 2015 Rugby World Cup captain Chris Robshaw continues to be left out of Jones’ squad.

Mitchell says Jones will making a decision on bringing Shields to Japan or not closer to the tournament.

“Eddie will decide, obviously we’ve got a deadline and that’s important but Eddie will decide on who’s right and who’s not right. There’s plenty of time to go and there are no major concerns.” Mitchell added