England have sent their reserve hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie back to England for treatment on a jarred knee as they continue to weigh up their selection options for Saturday’s second Test against New Zealand in Dunedin.

The 20-year-old Cowan-Dickie, a member of England’s Junior World Cup winning side last year, has been unable to play a full part in training and will be returning to his club Exeter for further assessment.

“It’s unfortunate for Luke,” Stuart Lancaster said.“He has been great over the last three weeks and I am sure he will have benefited from being involved in this environment.”

As England already have four other hookers no replacement will be called up. In the wake of their narrow first Test defeat, however, the coaching staff accept there are some tricky calls to be made in terms of the starting XV for the second Test. “It will be a tough selection because a lot of them performed admirably. Some people will be very happy and some won’t,” said Mike Catt, England’s attacking skills coach. “That’s the beauty of where we are as a squad. Nothing is set in stone and there are a lot of permutations.”

Catt is beginning to see similarities with the ultra-competitive English World Cup-winning squad he played in. “What you don’t want to do is give the jersey up. I remember when I used to compete with Will Greenwood. If I lost my spot or performed badly, I’d have to wait six months before I got another opportunity.

“That’s the beauty of this England team. It’s starting to have that level of competition for places. By the end of the tour we’ll have a clear idea of the people who can and can’t perform at international level.”