Tuesday 4 November 2014 15:02, UK
England are hopeful lock Dave Attwood will return from attending the birth of his first child in time for Saturday's autumn opener against New Zealand.
Only hours after Joe Launchbury was ruled out of the entire QBE Series with a neck problem on Sunday, England head coach Lancaster announced that Attwood's fiance Bridget is expecting their first child.
But forwards coach Graham Rowntree issued a more positive bulletin two days later, stating: "Dave has gone home, his wife's in labour.
"They've both promised me their baby will be delivered in the next couple of days! Hopefully that will be sorted for the weekend.
"He's in his car and on his way home, so good luck to them both. We'll deal with this day by day. We'll assess it on Thursday morning."
Attwood had been due to start alongside Courtney Lawes in the second row as England seek to end a four-match losing streak against the All Blacks, but Lancaster has been forced to draw up an alternative plan.
Mindful that the in-form Bath lock may need to be at his partner's side as the New Zealand clash looms, the uncapped George Kruis and Graham Kitchener will be placed on standby.
"There might be a scenario but we'll have to wait and see nearer the time. We'll have to have a plan B," Lancaster said.
"I don't think Dave can assure me when the baby is going to be due. The due date was actually last Friday, so we'll see.
"Obviously you want to be sensible about these things. You want to put the family first, but equally I know Dave's keen to play as well. We'll just have to wait and see how Mother Nature takes her course.
"We had the same situation with Joe Marler before the Six Nations game against Italy. Joe's partner went into labour before we flew to Rome so we made the decision to leave him at home. You have to react closer to the game."
England can ill-afford to lose any more locks with Launchbury and Geoff Parling, who has concussion, missing the four Tests against the All Blacks, South Africa, Samoa and Australia.
They've both promised me their baby will be delivered in the next couple of days! Hopefully that will be sorted for the weekend.
Lancaster at least takes comfort from Attwood's "exceptional" form for Bath this season, which is partly explained by the 27-year-old losing four to five kilos since returning from the summer tour to New Zealand.
"Dave and Joe are quite similar players. Dave is probably a stronger right-hand lock," Lancaster said.
"He's a very good scrummaging second row so he will add there. He has changed his game this season. He's lost a bit of weight and that's improved his foot speed over the floor and his ability to keep going for 80 minutes.
"He will bring a physicality to our game - not that Joe didn't, but he will add to that because of his power.
"There was a game he played for Bath a couple of weeks ago when he was the one repeatedly taking the ball into contact in the 79th and 80th minutes.
"He was still playing well right until the end and that's been the biggest change we've seen in him. It was Dave's decision to lose the weight. He felt he could maintain his power but become more mobile around the field."
Watch England v New Zealand live on Sky Sports 2 from 1.30pm on Saturday.
