Double blow for England as Lawes is banned and Sheridan goes home

England lock Courtney Lawes has been banned for two matches at the Rugby World Cup after being found guilty of recklessly striking Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma with his knee.

And, just hours later, it was revealed that prop Andrew Sheridan has been ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury.

Lawes, the first player to be banned at this World Cup, is out of England’s Pool B matches against Romania and Georgia, but he will be available to face Scotland on 1 October in Auckland.

The Northampton lock entered a not guilty plea when he appeared before a disciplinary hearing in Auckland yesterday, having been cited following England’s 13-9 win against the Pumas in Dunedin.

The offence carries a guideline suspension of between three and 12 weeks – or matches in the World Cup context – and Lawes’ offence was deemed to be “low end”.

The independent judicial officer Terry Willis, from Australia, reduced the ban from three to two weeks on account of Lawes’ “excellent disciplinary record and remorse”.

England coach Martin Johnson was clearly disappointed with the verdict but the early indications from the camp were that it isn unlikely they will appeal against the decision or the length of the ban.

“He has dived in to make what he thinks is a try-saving tackle and we thought any contact with the knees was incidental to him trying to do that in a fast-paced game,” said Johnson. “They obviously saw it a bit differently.”

Johnson will wait until England’s travelling QC Richard Smith, who represented Lawes, has studied the full written judgement before making a final decision over an appeal.

England have the resources within the squad to cover Lawes’ absence for the Georgia and Romania games, with Louis Deacon, Simon Shaw and Tom Palmer in the squad as recognised locks, while Tom Croft and Nick Easter can both fill in.

“It is disappointing to potentially lose him. For a young man, he played very well. It is not great,” said Johnson.

“We have the cover, clearly. The good thing for us, squad-wise, is that we will need to play players. You can’t sit them out for a few weeks and then say ‘this is the biggest game of your life on Saturday – how are you fixed?’

Sheridan will now return home for treatment, subject to final approval from the tournament’s medical director, and he will be replaced in England’s 30-man squad.

England manager Martin Johnson is yet to decide on the identity of Sheridan’s replacement.

Sheridan was sent for a scan on his shoulder after the Argentina game and the decision that his World Cup was over was taken after the results were sent back to specialists in the UK for further analysis.

Sheridan made his comeback from an operation to his right shoulder and bicep in England’s final World Cup warm-up match against Ireland and he started against Argentina.

The Sale loose-head prop, who also had two operations on his left shoulder two years ago, will be a major loss for England against the heavy-scrummaging Georgians.

Johnson confirmed England “anticipate” squad captain Lewis Moody being available to face Georgia on Sunday. Moody has not played since limping out of England’s first World Cup warm-up international with knee ligament damage.

“We are hopeful he is going to be good to go,” said Johnson.

“We talked last week that he wasn’t far off being fit. Another week is always better.”