KYLE SINCKLER is hoping to be fighting fit to KO South Africa in the World Cup final.
The England prop, who has been struggling with a calf injury, trained on his own yesterday and was limited to boxing and skills work.
Sinckler, 26, is set to train with the rest of his team-mates today before Red Rose chief Eddie Jones decides his team for Saturday’s showdown in Yokohama.
Jones is also weighing up whether to stick with George Ford at No 10 or drop him to the bench again to bring in Henry Slade at centre.
Ford was on fire in the semi-final win against New Zealand, kicking 12 points just a week after he had been axed for the quarter-final against Australia.
But with Boks bulldozer Damian de Allende a key threat, tinkerman Jones could switch back to a pairing of Slade and Manu Tuilagi at centre with skipper Owen Farrell at fly-half.
Today is the biggest training session of Jones’ era, after which the Aussie will decide his matchday 23 ahead of confirming it tomorrow.
South Africa’s coach Rassie Erasmus has already shown his hand.
The ballsy Boks boss said: “I’m not bluffing. It will be pretty much the same 23 that faced Wales, with Cheslin Kolbe being one of the guys who will probably come in.
“I’ve got 160 minutes to train, and a six-day turnaround, so there’s not a lot we can change. If it was a seven-day or eight-day turnaround, I would probably change a few things.”
And Erasmus would also be more than happy to bore England to death after grinding out their 19-16 semi-final win over Wales.
He added: “We accept the criticism, but we are also happy that we are in the position to compete for a World Cup final.
“Coming from being No 6, 7 or 8 in the world, we’ve got certain challenges, and one of them was always to become a power again in world rugby — and try to get to No 1.
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“You have to have building blocks in place and we’ve followed a route.
“So, we accept there are things we have to improve and we take it on the chin. But we have put ourselves in a position to win the World Cup.”
England have been hit with a four-figure fine and reprimanded by World Rugby after Red Rose players stepped over the halfway line during New Zealand’s Haka on Saturday.