England prop Kyle Sinckler says he is "grateful" to be at his second World Cup after convincing Steve Borthwick he would recover from injury in time.

But the 30-year-old recovered in time to play in England's second World Cup match, against Japan.

"The scan didn't look great but I knew it would be fine," said Sinckler.

"For me there's a massive amount of appreciation and gratitude to be back out there because it was kind of touch and go.

"Fair play to the medical staff and Steve for trusting me and to say: 'I know my body, I am going to be fine'.

"And thank you to my team who work for me off the field. They have really stepped up and helped me and I have been on recovery 24/7 since that game, so I am just very grateful to be here and hopefully get to do my thing again.

"I'm just grateful to be here - my second World Cup and my 13th or 12th year playing professional rugby."

Sinckler has been the first choice tight-head prop for England since 2018 but Borthwick's reliance on Will Stuart in the early warm-up games suggested the Bristol prop's seemingly undisputed position could be under threat.

His injury set him back further, but consecutive starts in the wins over Japan and Chile are expected to be followed by selection for England's Pool D finale with Samoa.

Sinckler says expectations of the modern prop have evolved during his career.

"The only thing that is not expected from me is to kick and take high balls. The role has changed since I first came on the scene," Sinckler said.

"The way I played tight-head prop, a lot of people said: 'You can't do it that way,' because of my ball-carrying, tips, chasing. I had to really work hard on my scrummaging because that didn't come naturally.

"Now it's: 'We want you to make 10 carries, we want you to make 10 tackles, we want you to get two or three scrum penalties, we want you to be strong in the kick chase, we want you to hit the rucks'. The standard is high and that is what I expect of myself."