Double injury blow for England's Morley and Tomkins

England face an anxious wait to discover the extent of injuries to key duo Adrian Morley and Sam Tomkins which threaten to thrown their Four Nations plans into chaos.

Morley, who took over the captaincy from the injured Jamie Peacock, lasted barely 10 minutes of today’s warm-up match against New Zealand Maori in Auckland before being withdrawn by head coach Steve McNamara with an arm injury.

He has a suspected ruptured biceps and will go for scans tomorrow amid fears that he could be sidelined for the entire Four Nations Series, which gets under way when England meet New Zealand in Wellington next Saturday.

“It’s a bit sore,” Morley told England TV. “Obviously I got a whack on the arm and he took me off as precaution.

“It was just an ordinary tackle but, when I felt my arm, it didn’t feel right. I’ll go for scans, let’s hope it’s not as bad as we think it might be.”

England will also send half-back Tomkins for a hospital check-up after he went off with a hip injury 50 minutes into today’s match at Mount Smart Stadium.

The tourists were leading 18-0, thanks in no small part to the playmaking skills of Tomkins who scored one of their three first-half tries, but they buckled in the face of a Maori fightback and in the end were grateful to hang on for an 18-18 draw.

“I thought we were very good in the first half,” said McNamara. “We played with lots of energy and we looked a real threat.

“But in the second half we were probably as bad as we were good in the first half. For what we needed at this moment in time, I think it’s been a great experience for us.”

McNamara has the front-row experience of James Graham and Stuart Fielden to call on next Saturday after deciding to rest both men today but England can ill-afford to be without the inspirational qualities of Morley.

Tomkins, Super League’s young player of the year for the past two seasons, is arguably even more important to England, especially in the absence of injured half-backs Danny McGuire and Kyle Eastmond.

“We’re not sure at the minute with Adrian,” said McNamara. “He’s got an arm injury so he’ll go and get that checked and assessed over the next 24 hours. We are not making any rash predictions.

“Sam fell awkwardly and jarred himself a little. Again it was precautionary and the next 24 to 48 hours will give us a bit more knowledge in terms of how the players react to their injuries.”