Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of the final two fixtures for England in the Six Nations after suffering a hamstring injury.
The scrum-half was forced off after just 24 minutes during Saturday’s 42–21 defeat to Ireland at Allianz Stadium, cutting his involvement in the match short.
He will now miss England’s upcoming clash with Italy on March 7, as well as their final game of the campaign against France the following week.
Jack van Poortvliet, who replaced Mitchell against Andy Farrell's side, is favourite to start at scrum-half in Rome, with Raffi Quirke called up to the squad as a replacement.
"Alex has been scanned and seen the relevant specialists," head coach Steve Borthwick said. "He'll be out for a number of weeks, unfortunately, so won't feature in the remainder of this championship."
Centre Ollie Lawrence is a doubt for the visit to the Stadio Olimpico after receiving a knee injection after making his comeback from the same injury against Ireland.
Eight players have been released back to their clubs and will be in Premier Cup action this weekend, with George Furbank and Chandler Cunningham-South in particular having the opportunity to play their way into contention against Italy.
