For the record, it was the boss on the offside that had sheared and it appeared that a great many miles had been covered in this state. This is suggested as it had been noted that for some time there had been an horrible roughness in the transmission when reversing but only a bit of a whine in normal driving.
It can be argued that in forward motion the thrust from the crown wheel is directed on to the nearside diff bearing and this had saved the day. The converse applies in reverse and hence all the roughnes. The bronze bush inside the sheared boss remained intact and had carried the load though the halfshaft! All part of the resilience of the Austin Seven!!

Ron

Location: Thornbury S Glos