England hooker and captain Dylan Hartley feels his side must accept their injury problems and focus on the upcoming Six Nations tournament.
The defending champions' preparations have been hampered by injuries and head coach Eddie Jones has been forced into making several changes to his squad ahead of their tournament opener with Italy on Sunday, February 4, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
But Hartley believes England's injury issues are a part of the game and feels they should – like all other teams – take it in their stride.
"Everyone's got injuries, it's just something that you've got to deal with," he told Sky Sports.
"We seem to deal with it just fine.
"We're missing some guys but it presents opportunities to others and we've been fine in the past and we're obviously blessed with the depth of talent that we have.
"The guys that have come in already this week have shown good energy, a good keenness and it's good.
"They've handled themselves very well so we're not concerned at all about injuries."
Exeter Chiefs centre Henry Slade became the latest player to suffer an injury setback after it was confirmed on Wednesday he would be sidelined for the first four weeks of the tournament due to a shoulder problem.
After notching back-to-back Six Nations tournament victories in 2016 and 2017, England are close to making history by becoming the first side to win a third successive competition.
Hartley is not thinking about that, however, and said they are focusing solely on their performance against the Azzurri.
"Unless we win our first game we can't put ourselves in the position to win the tournament so purely my focus at the moment is all on Italy," he added.
"So let's not talk about making history."
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