Saints duo hoping to recover in time for Springboks

The Northampton forwards took blows to the head in the 
24-21 defeat by New Zealand, Lawes departing on the first quarter mark and Hartley lasting until the final 10 minutes.

The Saints pair will undergo the graduated return to play protocols in place for concussion, but Lancaster expects them to have been passed fit by the time he announces his team on Thursday morning.

“Courtney is symptom-free so, hopefully, he will be okay. Dylan has also got bit of a head knock and is in the same situation,” said Lancaster.

“They need to train on Thursday to be ready. They will do a cog Test on Thursday morning which they have to pass to train. We will have provisions in place should they fail that, but we are optimistic they will be available.”

Lock Dave Attwood (knee), wing Semesa Rokoduguni (hip) and centre Kyle Eastmond (illness) should be involved in the remainder of the week.

England are nursing a deep sense of frustration after allowing a 14-11 half-time lead to deteriorate into a fifth successive defeat at the hands of the All Blacks and Lancaster admits no punches were pulled during yesterday morning’s review.

“It was honest and pretty straight. We didn’t gloss over anything and we know we have got to improve against South Africa,” said Lancaster.

“We were up at half-time and deserved to be in that position, but obviously we were pretty hard on ourselves in not taking the opportunities we should have done.

“We know that at this level if you don’t take those opportunities they can sometimes come back and hurt you. Clearly that was the case in the second half.”

South Africa are reeling after their 29-15 defeat by Ireland on Saturday and Lancaster is braced for the backlash.

“There will be a reaction from South Africa this weekend, I don’t doubt it. Ireland deserved the win,” said Lancaster.