England captain Owen Farrell looks set to miss the start of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations after suffering a training injury with club side Saracens.
Farrell hasn’t played since injuring his ankle against Australia during the Autumn Nations Series in November but was back in training and hoping to get minutes under his belt during Saracens’ EPCR Challenge Cup match against London Irish this weekend.
Eddie Jones had named the 30-year-old as captain of his 36-man squad for the Championship and he was expected to start at inside centre, forming a 10-12 axis with Marcus Smith, for England’s Round 1 clash with Scotland on Saturday February 5.
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Although the exact nature of the fresh injury is yet to be specified, Farrell will see a specialist early next week, meaning he will not attend the pre-Championship training camp in Brighton and looks set to miss the Calcutta Cup contest, with England due to release a squad update on Monday.
A Saracens statement read: “Owen Farrell suffered an injury in training this week ahead of the game against London Irish, ruling him out of the match.
“Owen was back in full training having recovered from the ankle injury he sustained against Australia during the autumn internationals.
“We will have a further update after he sees a specialist early next week.”
After facing Scotland in Round 1, England travel to Rome to take on Italy in Round 2 before a rest week, after which they play Wales at Twickenham on February 26.
