Abendanon arrives in the nick of time

Bath's 20-year-old full-backcum- wing lands in his native Johannesburg this morning to find the stricken tourists in the throes of the worst crisis to afflict an international squad since the professional era began 12 years ago.

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Head coach Brian Ashton sent for Abendanon after another bout of illness wiped three more players out his team.

Andy Farrell's elimination along with James Simpson- Daniel and Mike Brown left England without enough fit backs to fill every position, either in the team or on the bench. We are down to seven fit backs — and three of those are scrum-halves,' said Ashton.

Farrell, his World Cup prospects fading with each missed opportunity, and Simpson- Daniel were still in quarantine last night after both had been described by team doctor Simon Kemp as too ill to be able to fly home'. The crisis is so bad that England were down to just the one fit contender at full-back or wing, Dan Scarbrough of Saracens.

Jason Robinson's inability to train again yesterday because of a damaged knee set off more alarms and forced Ashton to send for a player he remembered from his most recent spell at Bath. Abendanon, the South African son of Dutch parents who settled in England during childhood, was preparing to play for the Saxons in the Churchill Cup Final against the Maori at Twickenham on Saturday when the call came through.

England are in such dire straits that they may have to play Abendanon on one wing, Mathew Tait on the other and Scarbrough, summoned at short notice last week as cover for David Strettle, at full-back.

In training yesterday, they had to operate with reserve centres, Jamie Noon and Anthony Allen, as a pair of makeshift wings.

Despite having no time to acclimatise to altitude, Abendanon, at the very least, will be needed as bench cover for the back three.

Ashton said: "We didn't think we would need him until this morning but he's a top quality footballer and the perfect replacement. It has certainly made for an interesting two weeks — not the ideal preparation for a Test match but we just get on with it."

Abendanon, whose 10 tries during a debut Premiership season made him Bath' s leading scorer, greeted the prospect in time-honoured fashion. "I'm over the moon," he said a few hours before finding himself somewhere over north Africa. "I was pretty shocked and sorry for for the guys who've been taken ill. All my family live in Jo'burg so it will be great to have some support for the Test and I hope to be involved in some way."

England's plight forced Ashton to delay naming his team until tomorrow. Farrell's attempt to play himself back into contention after missing last week's match came to a sickeningly early end on the training field.

"Andy trained for 10 minutes before he felt very light-headed," said Ashton. "I'm not making excuses before the match, just saying where we are."

The Springboks' problem was not who to put in, but who to leave out. Head coach Jake White said: This is the first time in 39 Tests that I've been able to pick from a virtually full-strength squad. It's a far cry from where we were this time last year.