Bath have told Eddie Jones not to consider selecting flanker Sam Underhill for the summer tour to South Africa after returning to the club “broken” from the last England training camp.

Underhill is only inching his way back to full fitness after tearing tendons in a toe at an England training camp in March following a debut season in which he has made just four Premiership starts. England have already lost at least six leading players, including back-row options Nathan Hughes and Courtney Lawes, while head coach Jones has previously hinted that he intends to rest some of his Lions contingent.

Yet with the squad to face South Africa in a three-Test series due to be announced a week Thursday, Bath first-team coach Toby Booth says rushing Underhill back into action would be an unnecessary risk. “Sam has not even started training yet,” Booth said. “He’s still got a lot of work to do.

“He returned to us broken and he’s not set one foot on the training pitch. He’s still at the rehab stage so I’d imagine he’s got a long way to go yet. Everyone knows what international rugby is like and going away to South Africa is certainly not going to be for the fainthearted and the underprepared. You need to be at your best for those sorts of tours, so hopefully common sense prevails and they do what is right for England, for us and for Sam.