Thomas Waldrom has joined England's World Cup squad as the official replacement for injured prop Andrew Sheridan.
Johnson opts to stick with four props in his 30-man squad
Leicester number eight Thomas Waldrom has joined England's Rugby World Cup squad as the official replacement for injured prop Andrew Sheridan, manager Martin Johnson has announced.
The New Zealand-born forward linked up with the squad in Auckland on Sunday, having initially been called up last week as injury cover for Nick Easter.
Sheridan suffered a tournament-ending shoulder injury in England's opening Pool B victory over Argentina a fortnight ago, but Johnson decided against calling for an immediate replacement.
The England medics have been assessing Easter's bad back, which ruled him out of the Georgia and Romania games, and Matt Stevens' ankle problem.
But Johnson has decided to stick with four props in his 30-man squad and strengthen England's back row options with the inclusion of Waldrom.
"Nick is making good progress as is Matt Stevens, but with Thomas now out here it makes sense to get him into the squad officially so he can join in with training," said Johnson.
"We also owe it to Leicester to make a decision so that they can plan accordingly without him."
Waldrom, 28, was a member of England's initial 45-man World Cup training squad but he was hampered by a calf injury and missed out when the squad was trimmed before the August warm-up internationals.
He played in Leicester's first three Aviva Premiership games of the season before being called out to New Zealand as cover last week.
