England coach Eddie Jones is facing a monumental challenge to forge a team 10 months out from the rugby World Cup with only a couple of players considered certain starters.

With only Henry Slade at outside centre and Jonny May on the left wing having cemented their positions, the make up of the XV for next year’s tournament remains a mystery.

The lack of anything remotely resembling a settled side, with the World Cup looming large, is a real worry for Jones who was already feeling the strain after losing six of his past seven games in charge.

The Australian is a fully paid-up member of the “you need 800 caps to win a World Cup” club but even in the best-case scenario England are likely to be well short of that magic number by the time they get to Japan.

Jones has not been helped by a slew of injuries and suspensions that have robbed him of several regulars, including his entire back row, for November Tests against South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.

He will have been working overtime in England’s Portugal training camp to bed down the replacements.

The number eight shirt of Billy Vunipola looks set to go to uncapped 21-year-old Zach Mercer after Ben Morgan – who last played in the 2015 World Cup – was left out of a 25-man match squad named by Jones on Tuesday.

“Of course we want to win every game but what’s important is that you keep moving forward and sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t tell you you’re moving forward,” Jones said when revealing his squad.

“We’ve always spoken about needing to have the depth of three players in each position and immediately in November we are going to be tested in some positions.

“So as long as we’ve got in our head that we know what the team is – and we do – then we’ll be alright.”

Tom Curry is expected to play at seven with Brad Shields and Maro Itoje in the mix at blindside.

Alec Hepburn (two caps as a replacement) and uncapped Ben Moon will battle it out at loosehead prop, making 11-cap, two-start Harry Williams look like a positive veteran at tighthead.

Does co-captain Dylan Hartley start at hooker on his return from concussion or will Jamie George retain his place?

The absence of Danny Cipriani from the squad suggests Jones will play Owen Farrell at No.10.

That opens the door for fit-again Manu Tuilagi at centre.

Jones is picking from relative luxury in the back three but nothing looks remotely settled there either.

Mike Brown, a virtual ever-present at fullback, was surprisingly dropped on Tuesday, leaving May, Elliot Daly, Jack Nowell and Chris Ashton to battle for starting places.

Jones insists he knows his best team and that these November games are mere “sparring matches”.