England confirm Jack van Poortvliet will miss the ENTIRE Rugby World Cup after injuring his ankle and calling up Alex Mitchell to replace him

England The leading scrum half has been ruled out of the World Cup after the RFU confirmed Jack van Poortvliet will need surgery on the ankle he injured against Wales last Saturday.

As first revealed by Mail Sport last night, the 22-year-old Leicester prodigy has been forced out of the global showpiece in France this autumn following the damage he suffered in a freak accident at Twickenham.

Van Poortvliet had to be helped off the field in the first half after what appeared to be a low-level collision with teammate Ollie Lawrence that left him in obvious pain on the turf.

Borthwick has lost the services of young Tiger who was favorite to wear England’s number 9 shirt in their World Cup opener against Argentina in Marseille on September 9.

After officially announcing that Northampton’s Alex Mitchell has been called up as cover, the head coach said: “It’s really bad luck for Jack, and we send him our very best wishes for a speedy and successful recovery.”

Mitchell was involved in the final Six Nations, but was then overtaken in the scrum half pecking order by Harlequins veteran Danny Care, who had been named to the tournament’s 33-man squad last week ahead of the younger contender.

Now Mitchell hopes to prove he can challenge for a matchday role, as someone capable of providing vital pace and spark in attack.

However, the roster equation will now likely fall back to what it was in this position for so many years under Eddie Jones and even before his tenure; Care as primary alternative to Ben Youngs, who will now almost certainly start against the Pumas.

The 22-year-old defender suffered an ankle injury during Saturday’s game against Wales at Twickenham

Northampton’s Alex Mitchell has been called up to replace the injured scrum half

England’s most capped player will be tasked with implementing a pragmatic, territorial game plan, which he has so often proven to be a master of in the past.

Meanwhile, this comes as a major disappointment to Van Poortvliet, who now has to watch the campaign from across the Channel as he recovers from surgery.

He demonstrated his Test credentials in Australia’s series victory over the Wallabies last summer, and will certainly be back in the squad mix once he’s back to full fitness.

In the long run he will compete for caps with the younger generation of English scrum halves such as Mitchell, Raffi Quirke and Harry Randall.