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George Farbank will miss the rest of England’s summer internationals after being withdrawn from the squad to face South Africa with appendicitis.
The full-back, who is set to make his first England appearance in nearly two years, was taken to hospital on Friday evening and replaced in the starting XV by Marcus Smith.
After the 45-21 loss at Ellis Park, England boss Steve Borthwick confirmed Farbank will also miss the games against Fiji on 11 July and Argentina on 18 July.
Borthwick said: “He went to hospital on Friday evening with stomach pains, had surgery on his appendix on Saturday morning and is still in hospital recovering.
“I spoke to him earlier, he is disappointed and he will miss the next two weeks. He will be late in South Africa to return at a later date.”
The 29-year-old, who recently joined Harlequins, has battled a series of injuries since his last England tour in November 2024, including to his calf, arm and knee.
He earned a recall after helping Northampton Saints to the Love Rugby title this summer.
Borthwick backs players after late yellow card
Marcus Smith was picked for the loss to South Africa
Meanwhile, Borthwick defended Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper, who were shown yellow cards late in Saturday’s defeat.
In the 71st minute Freeman was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle and a minute later Pepper followed him to the stands for a late challenge.
It meant the visitors were forced to play with just 13 men for the final seven minutes of their Nations Championship opener and they conceded last-minute tries to Malcolm Marks and BJ Dixon to end a disappointing evening in Johannesburg.
However, Borthwick refused to blame either player.
He said: “If you look at Tommy Freeman you see a slight timing error, there was nothing malicious or reckless. He was trying to make a tackle and he was apologetic for the height of the tackle.
“Guy Pepper One, South Africa put the players under pressure because that’s how they play and they’re very good.
“We want our execution and decision-making to be at a very high level and these young players will learn from the experience of playing against the best in the world.”
George: Discipline lets us down
Jamie George admits England’s defeat was down to poor discipline
England have now been hit with 10 yellow cards and one red in their six matches in 2026.
The post-six-nation review raised the theme of ill-discipline as an area of concern and Jamie George, who is captaining the side in place of the rested Maro Itoz, admitted their side of the game needed to improve.
He said: “There are clear things we need to make sure we can get better at and as players we need to take a lot more responsibility for our discipline, which disappoints us.
“Apart from that, there were times where we put the Springboks under a lot of pressure. Talking to their boys they know they’ve played a Test match.
“We’re going to be a significantly better team off the back of this experience with a young team coming in here and realizing how we put them under a lot of pressure and how we let that pressure get to us a little bit.
“It’s going to be a great learning experience for us, but we’re disappointed because we really believed we could come here and win.
“We’re going to rally round, stay tight and we’re all looking forward to going to Liverpool and putting on a great performance against Fiji.”
England will now look to bounce back against Fiji at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium next Saturday (kick-off 2.10pm).
