It does not get any easier for Brian Ashton. No sooner was the England head coach luxuriating in the belief that his players had enjoyed two of the best and most productive days' training for a long time than he was rudely brought back to his senses by an injury to Phil Vickery that threatens to rule the England captain out of the match against Italy in Rome on Sunday.

Vickery was forced out of training with an injury to his right calf, which he believes was accidentally stamped on, and joins a lengthy list of casualties, the extent of which has so undermined Ashton's plans for this week. He will not know if Vickery will miss the match until the swelling has reduced and the medical team can assess whether he has mere bruising or if the damage is more substantial. The picture should be clearer this morning.

Ashton is optimistic that Vickery will be fine and will give him until the last minute to prove it, but in the meantime he has called up Jason Hobson, the uncapped prop from Bristol, to the squad that travels to Rome today. The head coach knows who he wants to replace Vickery as captain if the need arises - probably Jonny Wilkinson - but was giving no clues yesterday in the belief that Vickery will be fit. If he is not, Matt Stevens will start at tight-head prop, with Hobson on the bench.

There is a degree of irony in Hobson's selection that was not lost on Vickery, despite his protestations to the contrary yesterday. It was, after all, Hobson's punch, during a Guinness Premiership match against London Wasps last March, that knocked Vickery out of two internationals and, according to the England captain, caused damage to his inner ear. “It was nasty,” he eventually conceded. Other than that admission, he would not be drawn on any lingering ill-feeling between the two players.

Indeed, he even feigned ignorance about what had happened. Asked if he had buried the hatchet, he said: “I never had a problem with him in the first place. I haven't spoken to him, maybe said hello.”

Hobson, who will celebrate his 25th birthday in Rome on Sunday, was suspended for three weeks as a result of the incident and Vickery was ruled out of England's final two RBS Six Nations Championship matches. Of the training setback, Vickery said: “During some contact drills, I took the ball in and got a boot or knee on the calf. I don't think I have pulled anything. It is just very sore. It is painful and a bit swollen, but it might settle down in the next 12 hours.”

Hobson is not the only addition to the squad flying to Italy. Shane Geraghty will also take his seat on the flight as cover for Toby Flood, whom Ashton revealed had not trained until yesterday because of a thigh strain that has also prevented him from kicking.

Vickery's latest problem reopened the debate over the captaincy, his ability to last a match and the leadership that was so palpably missing in the last frantic 20 minutes of the 26-19 defeat by Wales at Twickenham last weekend, even among experienced players whom Ashton would have expected to have assumed command. One of those was Wilkinson, who has come in for criticism but whom Vickery was quick to defend yesterday.

“I have given up on the Jonny thing,” Vickery, who would have welcomed the news that Eoin Reddan, the Ireland scrum half, had committed himself to Wasps for a further two years yesterday, said. “All I know is that he is a true professional, to my mind one of the very best rugby players who I have ever played with and someone if I had to put my mortgage on to do something, he's my man.

“I know he comes in for huge criticism from certain areas of the press, but unfortunately, when you have done so much good and you are such a bloody good rugby player, it tends to get magnified. He's a rugby icon.”

Wilkinson also won the backing of Jonathan Thomas, the Wales flanker who was knocked out by a tackle by the England fly half, who escaped a citing. “I've got nothing against the tackle,” Thomas said. “I've got no hard feelings towards Wilkinson whatsoever. I think it was a fairly legitimate tackle. It was just an unfortunate situation where I was quite low, where I got caught on the chin.”

John Wells, the forwards coach, said that England would ideally need Vickery's experience at the Stadio Flaminio against the abrasive Italians. “They are a very disciplined, organised, physical bunch of lads,” Wells said. “Part of the challenge we are going to have this week is playing against opposition who are wanting to come in and knock our blocks off.”