England manager Martin Johnson has said that injured captain Lewis Moody could return for their second pool game against Georgia.
Moody will miss England’s opener against Argentina this Saturday due to a knee ligament strain, but Johnson believes that his return is not far away.
"It is the opening game of what hopefully is a long tournament so you can force these things sometimes and that can go either way," said Johnson.
"He has been running around today so he is not a million miles away. We hope he should be fit [to play Georgia].
"We thought he would be fit for this one. The medics had hoped he'd be ready to go but he's not quite there. We are in a World Cup and it adds to the emotion of the whole thing.”
Mike Tindall will continue as skipper in Moody’s absence after leading England in the RBS Six Nations as well as their last two warm-up matches against Wales and Ireland.
