Rugby World Cup 2019: No concerns among England players despite fear of injury looming in the shadows

Every player destined for the Rugby World Cup knows that injury this weekend would seriously jeopardise their hopes of making it to Japan

Twenty of England’s matchday 23 will begin Friday night’s final Rugby World Cup warm-up game knowing than an injury will stand a very good chance of ruling them out of the flight to Japan fewer than 48 hours later.

England have come through their three warm-up matches to date without any serious injuries of note, although the fitness of Jack Nowell and Henry Slade remains a concern with neither playing a minute of rugby this summer and Mako Vunipola heading to Japan with doubts lingering over the state of his surgically-repaired hamstring.

With a trio of injury concerns on his hands already, Eddie Jones cannot realistically afford to carry any more players who will be unfit for part of the World Cup, and that feeling of nervousness could well reside deep within those in white – and blue – on Friday.

But Anthony Watson, who this week returns to the full-back berth that he has not filled for England since the final match of the 2018 Six Nations, insists that the team will have got that fear out of their minds in order to minimise the risk of it actually happening.

"You can't worry about it and I'm not worried about it," said Watson. "As soon as you start going into contact at 85 per cent and start worrying about making sure you get on the plane on Sunday, you won't play as well as you can and you'd probably get injured anyway."

Watson has enjoyed an impressive return to international rugby following two serious Achilles injuries and a number of other setbacks, though he has found himself back on the wing for the two encounters against Wales as Elliot Daly has taken the No 15 shirt.

But the Bath back has regularly played down the importance of where he plays so long as he is in the team, and as he prepares to return to his full-back duties, he continues to see little difference in how the two back-three roles differ.

"My mindset doesn't really change that much. The roles of wing and full-back are very interchangeable," Watson said. "Playing wing in the last two games gives me a better perspective on what's expected from the full-back and what the full-back expects from his wingers.

"I just need to be very vocal, apart from that nothing really changes. It's very similar to playing full-back at club rugby.

"There are little intricacies that are different and there are details that are heightened, which you would expect from international rugby."

Anthony Watson insists England cannot afford to fear injuries ahead of the World Cup (Getty)

While England flew into Newcastle on Thursday from their preparations in Treviso, Italy have spent the full week getting to grips with the north-east, although while O’Shea insists their attentions are on this final run-out before the World Cup, he did admit it is all about getting ready for their Pool B opener in Japan against Namibia.

"We will face one of the strongest teams in the world in a match that represents a new step in our preparation for the Rugby World Cup,” O’Shea said. “We will have a new opportunity to assess the players' state of form, in order to understand later how to continue the path to the first match against Namibia. But now our focus is on England.”