I know that being positive is the appropriate frame of mind here, but I am genuinely feeling that way about my damaged ankle. We have to wait to let it settle and recover, but it is not a long-term injury and while I am loath to be held to any sort of a date, I am looking at the South Africa match a week tomorrow as a game that I am hoping and still determined to play in.

This weekend is out, against the United States, we all know that, but after that it is totally open. That is the general feeling among the medical team. I am going day by day and there is a realistic chance that thereafter anything – and by that I mean playing in the South Africa game – is possible. In terms of injury recovery, it is still too far in the future to know, but South Africa is certainly the goal.

Once the US game is out of the way, I would then be looking to be getting back involved again. In order for me to play against South Africa, at some point in the middle of next week I need to be working and running on the ankle properly. I am hugely positive mentally about that, especially given how quickly the ankle has settled down.

An indication of where I am with it is that I was far more concerned about the hamstring that was troubling me during the Six Nations Championship. The ankle is more of a sure thing, it is a typical professional rugby injury – a bit of bad luck, you deal with it, quick recovery, short time out.

The way it happened was in a training session, Steve Borthwick and Phil Vickery went to ground and as I stepped over them to get out of the way I just put my foot down in the wrong place. I am not sure if I misjudged where Steve was or whether I had not seen his foot at all or whether he may have moved it slightly, but as my foot came down and I put my weight on it, I was on the edge of Steve’s boot and not on flat ground.

How much did it hurt? I have had so many injuries now that I cannot compare which feels worse. This one registered quite high up the pain league, but that may just be because it is the most recent.

The pain did go quite quickly. It was a bit like a shoulder “stinger” – horrendous at the time, but as quickly as the pain comes, it fades away. I thought the swelling was pretty impressive, but apparently in general terms it was not, so now I am wishing I was a bit tougher when it happened.

So I am now back on crutches, which is infuriatingly frustrating. Initially, with this injury, it is all about keeping the weight off it, but hopefully after 48 hours we can be more aggressive with it.

Today the squad is visiting the First World War battlefields, which is something I am very keen to do, but when I compiled the column yesterday, I still did not know whether I would be able to go. I will certainly be making that trip another time, even if I cannot do it today, but right now there is no point doing anything that presents the remotest risk of impeding the recovery process.

And yes, after all the recent years of injury frustration, it does seem a little unfair that my name should again be on the injury list, and on only day one of our World Cup campaign. Yet while there have been plenty of dark times as I have battled through injuries, this is not one of them. That may not make sense, with so much at stake, but it reflects how positive I am about getting back out there and playing.

The good thing is that I am so completely at ease in myself and I know that is a good sign. I am enjoying the fact that the ankle has settled down so quickly. It seems to be passing all the tests. What’s it like after a night’s sleep? What’s it like after 24 hours? Every indication so far suggests that it is recovering quickly.