England’s preparations for Saturday’s autumn international with Australia have been hit by further turmoil after Joe Marler was ruled out of facing the Wallabies because of Covid. Marler has been forced into isolation after contracting the virus and England were on Tuesday night facing an anxious wait on further PCR test results which could reveal a wider outbreak. Marler, who came off the bench in last Saturday’s 69-3 win over Tonga, initially produced a positive lateral flow test result and a subsequent PCR test yesterday confirmed he had contracted Covid-19. The rest of the 34-man squad were forced into temporary lockdown in their rooms on Monday while Marler, who is understood to have shown symptoms, has now left the England camp to isolate. The remainder of the squad were able to train on Tuesday, but they could yet face further upheaval in the buildup to Saturday’s match. Marler’s positive result came after Owen Farrell was forced to sit out Saturday’s victory over Tonga while in isolation. Farrell was deemed to have produced a false-positive test result and has since been allowed to rejoin the camp but in Marler’s case, the Rugby Football Union has accepted that he has the virus and he will therefore have to isolate for 10 days. That makes the situation more precarious for England with the RFU unable to pinpoint precisely how the virus came into camp. The squad returned to the team hotel for dinner and drinks after the Tonga match before the wider squad convened at England’s Bagshot base on Sunday. Given the players and staff have reached the 85% vaccination threshold, social distancing measures have been relaxed this campaign with “boundaries” rather than “bubbles” in place. Unlike during the Six Nations, the players and staff are not totally cut off from the rest of the hotel, where members of the public are also staying and they are allowed to venture out during downtime. And while the threshold has been met, it is understood that not everyone has been double vaccinated. Sam Underhill, explaining how his sister is a doctor and how his father was hospitalised with Covid, revealed he has had both vaccinations but conceded it was ultimately a personal decision. “I don’t fancy getting it or giving it to any family members,” he said. “Anything for me that’s going to decrease that likelihood … [being double vaccinated] seems to have a very negligible effect on my wellbeing. In my opinion it’s a good thing. “It’s not for me to dictate what people do, but I think it’s a very positive thing and a lot of very intelligent people work very hard to get it out there so we can keep living the lives we live. I think it’s a benefit to have it, but I can’t speak for everyone. “It’s an ongoing public debate which gets into the realms of bodily autonomy and respecting individual decisions. The way it is there are obviously consequences in terms of isolation lengths, contact tracing and all those sorts of things. “Personally, I think the more information there is, the more informed you are the better … from good, reliable sources. It’s obviously having a big impact on the game isn’t it? And it looks like it will.” Even if no more players are ruled out of Saturday’s first meeting with Australia since England’s World Cup quarter-final victory in 2019, Marler’s absence causes a headache for Eddie Jones. Ellis Genge started against Tonga and is in line to stay in the No 1 jersey but England are light on cover with only Trevor Davison able to play at loosehead prop. While he has plenty of experience in the position, he has played exclusively at tighthead for Newcastle this season and won his solitary cap there over the summer against the USA. Jones was contemplating calling up a replacement with Sale’s uncapped 21-year-old Bevan Rodd and Mako Vunipola, who was among the senior players axed for this campaign, among the options. England, however, are seeking to minimise the number of additional call-ups as part of a tightening up of protocols, having secured permission to keep all members of the squad in camp all week. It is understood that Jones was set to make a final call on a replacement once all PCR test results had arrived.