Steve Borthwick may be forced into a backline reshuffle ahead of England’s Twickenham clash against Fiji, with Freddie Steward in doubt after sustaining a hand injury in last weekend’s win over Australia.

The Leicester fullback – widely regarded as one of the world’s best under the high ball – played through the pain during England’s 25-7 victory but missed training on Monday and is set to sit out Tuesday’s session too.

That leaves the 24-year-old racing against time to prove his fitness before Borthwick names his team on Thursday.

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England’s fullback stocks have been hit hard, with George Furbank and Elliot Daly both sidelined. Should Steward miss out, Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman or Tom Roebuck could fill the No 15 jersey.

Smith, who has previous Test experience at fullback, didn’t feature against the Wallabies, while Freeman and Roebuck started at outside centre and wing respectively.

With Fiji visiting Twickenham this weekend before blockbuster clashes against New Zealand and Argentina, Borthwick may also use the fixture to test his squad’s versatility.

Man of the Match Ben Earl could be trialled at inside centre – an experiment aimed at boosting England’s positional depth heading into the next World Cup cycle. Borthwick is also considering testing rising star Henry Pollock on the wing.

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Earl said he’d embrace the chance to switch roles if needed.

“It’s a massive strength of our squad,” said the Saracens loose forward. “Henry could do a very good job on the wing, and you see now that the best 12s, 7s, and 8s all have similar skill sets. It’s going to become the norm.”

The versatile loose forward added that if given the No 12 jersey, he wouldn’t change his approach.

“If I was ever to play 12, Steve would just want me to be myself. The moment you start trying to shoehorn yourself into a different role, you lose what makes you, you.”

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