WARRIORS captain Pat Sanderson has been cleared to resume training with England today after he suffered a neck injury during England's record 58-10 first Test defeat against South Africa.

The back-row forward was on the receiving end of a crunching second-half collision after coming on as a replacement but the problem settled down overnight on Saturday.

Despite Sanderson's recovery, head coach Brian Ash-ton's hopes for a "trouble-free" week have been dashed as England build towards another daunting appointment with the Spring-boks.

Wing Iain Balshaw has become the latest victim of an ill-fated trip, flying home tonight after undergoing minor surgery in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Balshaw was carried off during the first Test and suffered a wound to his shin that required an operation.

It is yet another setback during an injury-ravaged career and he follows his Gloucester colleague - prop Nick Wood (chest muscle) - in seeing his tour reach a premature end.

Wood was hurt during training last week, but despite also losing Balshaw, England have released a better-than-anticipated medical bulletin about their other Bloemfontein casualties.

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson suffered a facial laceration and bruised lower back, but is expected to train later this week, while flanker Andy Hazell (knee) could join him.

There is some belated good news surrounding Harlequins wing David Strettle, comfortably the worst victim of a stomach virus that swept through the camp last week.

Strettle spent several days in hospital for rehydration treatment, but he was discharged on Saturday and has now rejoined the squad.

Centre Andy Farrell and scrum-half Peter Richards also suffered from stomach trouble and were forced out of the Bloemfontein clash as a result.

They are both continuing their recovery and Ashton currently has no plans to summon any further tour reinforcements after Saracens back Dan Scarbrough and Bath prop Matt Stevens joined the squad last week.

While England can only hope illness and injury problems belatedly relent, Ashton faces arguably the biggest challenge of his coaching career in preparing the tourists to try and avoid a repeat result - or worse - at Loftus Versfeld.

England had their moments in Bloemfontein, but conceded seven tries to South Africa during the second and fourth quarters, which ultimately delivered a second-heaviest Test loss since they began playing international rugby 136 years ago.

Assessing the Pretoria challenge, Ashton said: "It is going to be very, very difficult.

"One of the things that disappointed (in Bloemfontein) was some of the things we put in process that we wanted to do, we didn't do them until after half-time. Once we got going, it looked as though we could cause some sort of problem."

Meanwhile, departing Warriors lock Richard Blaze will start for England Saxons in today's Churchill Cup clash against Scotland A' at Twickenham.

Another Worcester second-row, Graham Kitchener, has withdrawn from the England Under 18 squad for their development tour of Australia.

Kitchener played in the Under 18 Six Nations Championship in Glasgow last month.

He impressed in that tournament and was named in the squad for the Australia tour, which includes an international in Brisbane. But he has opted to stay in England and concentrate on his studies.