Thursday 29 January 2015 11:11, UK
England’s injury problems are mounting ahead of their Six Nations opener against Wales after Brad Barritt, Geoff Parling, Tom Wood and Kyle Eastmond were all rated highly doubtful for the game.
The quartet are set to join fly-half Owen Farrell, who will miss the entire tournament with a knee injury, on the sidelines for the match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on February 6.
Saracens centre Barritt and Leicester lock Parling are being treated for knee ligament strains suffered on club duty in the European Champions Cup last week and head coach Stuart Lancaster admits they are unlikely to be available until England's second Six Nations game against Italy at Twickenham on February 14.
Lancaster told Sky Sports News HQ: "It’s very tight now for them to achieve selection for Cardiff because I am going to need them to train Sunday and Monday and the prognosis at the moment is that they are not going to train Sunday and Monday, so that will make it very difficult.
"That said, it’s probably more likely they are going to be available to train the week leading up to the Italy game, but it’s still very early days in the injuries.
"You don’t like to put too much pressure on yourself or the players by saying it’s definitely this time, but I’m reasonably optimistic they will be available for selection against Italy."
Northampton back-row forward Wood (ankle) and Bath centre Eastmond (shoulder) are also struggling to make the Cardiff contest.
"Unlikely," was Lancaster's verdict when asked if they would be available, before adding: "It depends on the assessment. We’ve got two assessments that are taking place in the next 24 hours - further specialist assessments - which will give us a little bit more certainty of where they are at.
"If you assess injuries too early you sometimes get a different picture to actually what the injury is. So we are going to allow them to settle, go and see the specialists and then we will go from there."
Lancaster was more positive about the fitness of Northampton centre Luther Burrell, who has been suffering from concussion.
"He’s gone through his concussion protocol and there’s been no reaction so he will hopefully be able to train fully on Friday," said Lancaster.
The England head coach also had plenty of sympathy for Farrell after he was ruled out on Tuesday.
He said: "We are really devastated for him. He worked so hard after that injury in New Zealand to get back playing and playing well for Saracens.
"To go back to the form he was in and get so close to the Six Nations for us, it’s a big, big blow because he is a big leader, he’s got big-game temperament and he has delivered at the highest level for us on a consistent basis.
"That said George Ford probably had the nudge on him going into the series. Obviously there is a bit more on George now to take that responsibility and we’ve got Danny Cipriani and Stephen Myler as well who are going to back up."
