England's Sheridan out of rugby World Cup

England prop Andrew Sheridan was ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup with a shoulder injury, a statement issued by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said here on Wednesday. Sheridan is set to return home for treatment, subject to approval by the tournament medical director, and will be replaced in England's 30-man squad. However, England manager Martin Johnson has yet to decide who will replace him. Sheridan damaged his left shoulder, where he has suffered several injuries during his career, in England's 13-9 win over Argentina in their tournament opener in Dunedin on Saturday. The RFU statement said England had been in contact with the 31-year-old loosehead prop's club Sale and, following a scan and medical assessment, it had been decided to send Sheridan home. Under the tournament's terms of participation, that means he will be unable to return to the World Cup at a later date. "It's really sad for Sheri," said Johnson in the statement. "He has been unlucky with injuries and we wish him all the best for his recovery. "We brought five props so we have options there and we can bring another player out but we will decide what to do about that in due course," added Johnson, England's 2003 World Cup-winning captain. Before coming to New Zealand, Sheridan had played just one game for Sale and one warm-up match for England, last month's 20-9 win away to Ireland, since Johnson's men won the Six Nations. He'd already undergone "revision" surgery to correct a right shoulder operation which had not worked out as planned. That followed two operations on his left shoulder since he dislocated it in October 2009. Sheridan, capped 40 times, is renowned as a strong scrummager and helped wreck Australia's setpiece during England's World Cup quarter-final win against the Wallabies in Marseille four years ago. England, bidding to reach a third successive World Cup final, do have cover for Sheridan in New Zealand, with Matt Stevens, who replaced him just after the hour mark against Argentina, able to play both sides of the scrum. In terms of flying out an extra prop, Northampton's Paul Doran-Jones and Wasps' Tim Payne would appear to be the leading candidates to replace Sheridan, having been included in England's initial 45-man training squad. Meanwhile Johnson was optimistic squad captain Lewis Moody would be fit to face Georgia when England continue their Pool B campaign at Dunedin's Otago Stadium on Sunday. Back-row forward Moody has not played since limping out of the first of England's three World Cup warm-up matches, a 23-19 Twickenham win over Wales last month, with knee ligament damage. "We are hopeful he is going to be good to go," said Johnson. "We talked last week that he wasn't far off. Another week is always better when you've been injured for a long time but, at some point, you've got to go and we are hopeful." Johnson added he was planning to rotate his side against Georgia, who open up against Scotland on Wednesday, in a bid to give as many players as possible the experience of starting a match so they were not caught cold later on in the World Cup. "We need to get the bulk of the squad on the field starting a game if we can because they need to be ready to play," said Johnson. "You can't sit them out for a few weeks and then say 'this is the biggest game of your life on Saturday - how are you fixed?"