England's captain Steve Borthwick believes the injury problems that dog his side going into next month's international series at Twickenham will reveal plenty about the strength in depth available to Martin Johnson. They will be down to their third- or fourth-choices in some positions but Borthwick said the injury crisis would also be a test of resilience.

"I will not know exactly how many players are out until I join up with the squad, but I know a couple more were injured over the weekend," said Borthwick, making reference to the addition of Julian White and Nick Easter to England's lengthy casualty list. "Next month will be a big test for the squad and it will give players chances. We must view this as an opportunity and not feel sorry for ourselves because we are missing so many.

"You cannot dwell on who is absent. We have to go into the series as a strong group and emerge from it even stronger. It is about building character and resilience. We found out last November that we were not good enough, but by the end of the Six Nations we had developed into a formidable side that played some decent rugby."

Borthwick has not been a universally popular choice as England captain, but he shrugged off criticism by saying: "The only opinion that matters is that of Martin Johnson. I learned a lot last season and look forward to the Tests ahead."