Jonny May to miss England's autumn international with Argentina after hamstring injury

Joe Launchbury and Marcus Smith also picked up knocks

May is the Premiership's current top try scorer (Getty)

Jonny May is set to miss England’s opening autumn international against Argentina after suffering a hamstring injury during training in Portugal, with Eddie Jones’ plans thrown into chaos after a wave of setbacks to numerous players.

The Leicester Tigers wing is one of three fresh injury concerns that England have suffered while going through a training camp on the Algarve, with Wasps lock Joe Launchbury and Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith also picking up knocks.

May looks to be the worst of the trio, as he was forced to pull-up in training on Tuesday in Vilamoura with a hamstring issue that will almost certainly rule him out of the Test at Twickenham against the Pumas on 11 November.

England are hopeful that May will recover in time for the second match of the autumn against Australia, but his absence will rob Jones of the current Premiership top try-scorer, with May scoring seven tries in six matches since joining the Tigers in the summer, a record that puts him level with Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni.

It also leaves Jones with just three natural wings in Rokoduguni, Anthony Watson and Denny Solomona, and to make matters worse both Rokoduguni and Solomona are carrying minor knocks with a dead leg and sore Achilles respectively.

Having initially planned to give Watson a rest, the Bath flier now looks certain to start against Argentina, with either Rokoduguni or Solomona on the other wing and Mike Brown at full-back, given that May joins Elliot Daly and Jack Nowell in being ruled out of the encounter. Both Daly and Nowell are expected to miss the entire autumn programme, having suffered knee and cheekbone injuries respectively.

Semesa Rokoduguni is already nursing a dead leg (Getty)

Launchbury meanwhile picked up a small knee injury in training, but it’s hoped that he will recover in time to resume training at the end of the week and should keep him in contention to play against Argentina next weekend.

Eighteen-year-old Harlequins fly-half Smith, however, will return to London after suffering a sprain in his foot, and while he was unlikely to feature in any of England’s autumn internationals after being named in the squad as an “apprentice player”, he will undergo further assessment before a timescale is put on his return.

Marcus Smith will return to London for treatment on a foot sprain (Getty)

With Jones planning three separate training programmes for the Portugal camp in order to manage his returning British and Irish Lions, the head coach had to alter his plans on Wednesday due to the shortage of players available.

England will remain in Portugal until Friday, eight days before they begin their three-Test November campaign.