That leaves England with 15 forwards and 11 backs as they bid to go one better than their previous two runner-up finishes in the tournament.

But Mapletoft believes his troops can cope with the demanding schedule in Argentina.

He said: “It's a shame to lose Tom Catterick, who'd done well for us and for Newcastle this season and we hope he makes a full recovery.

“Having lost Tom, we went away and looked closely at previous tournaments and the nature of our squad.

“Rob has experience across the front row and he's been doing really well in his time with us so far.

“It was a difficult decision but we looked at the squad and decided ultimately to go for a 15-11 split because we think we have enough versatility in the back line to cope.”