Waldrom, 28, was born and raised in the Land of the Long White Cloud and only arrived in England in 2010 when he was brought over from Crusaders by Leicester Tigers.

Born in Lower Hutt, the back-rower was included in Martin Johnson’s preliminary World Cup squad after discovering earlier this year that his grandmother was born in England.

His chances of making his World Cup bow on home soil appeared over after Johnson opted to leave him behind but a back injury to Easter has seen him fly out as a precaution.

“Nick Easter is still suffering from a sore back so we will be bringing Thomas out as temporary cover,” said England manager Johnson.

Johnson pulled no punches in his assessment of England’s defeat of Georgia – claiming England must improve or go home early, a sentiment that has been echoed by fly-half Toby Flood.

“Good teams win poorly but I'd say we're nowhere near where we want to be,” he said.

“We are striving to get better and striving to improve but at the moment there are big steps to be made

“We were obviously expected to go out and win that game, we did so, but there was a bit of a bitter taste in the changing rooms afterwards.

“The guys have been pretty frustrated with one another and themselves for, I guess, simple errors and so-called mistakes that are pretty easily rectified on the pitch that we just didn't go about doing.”