England have begun an emergency search for fresh blood at tight-head prop to shore up their creaking scrum.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has admitted the position has become a problem one, in the wake of the 2-0 Test series defeat in New Zealand.
Bath's Will Stuart failed to contain Ethan De Groot in Saturday's 24-17 loss in Auckland. Stuart now has 41 caps, but, at 28, has failed to dominate at No3.
Dan Cole became England's second most-capped men's player at the weekend, with 115 appearances, but is also 37 and, by his own admission, taking his future one day at a time.
Borthwick pulled no punches when assessing England's tight-head stocks. "Quite clearly, we need to find some more tight-heads," said the England boss. "If you look at the loose-head side and the people who weren't here — Ellis Genge, Beno Obano, Joe Marler missed the last Test, Fin Baxter, Bevan Rodd — we've got competition. We don't quite have that on the other side. That's going to be a big development project for myself and (scrum coach) Tom Harrison."
England's issues stem from a gap in the production line, but also to departing talents. Kyle Sinckler and Harlequins' potent scrum technician Will Collier are off limits after moving to France, leaving Joe Heyes and Trevor Davison as established Premiership operators. Sale's Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Bath's Billy Sela and Gloucester's Afolabi Fasogbon need development time.
"Will has done really well in the last couple of Tests," Borthwick said. "Outside the scrum, he did many things very well, [but] we need results now, and we need to be preparing for several years in advance."
