Under the knife: Henry Arundell
(Picture: Getty Images)Henry Arundell will be a major doubt for England’s Six Nations campaign after undergoing foot surgery.
The 20-year-old London Irish star went under the knife on Monday, and now faces six weeks in a protective boot.
Rugby director Declan Kidney does not expect the livewire back-three star back in action before January, with England opening their Six Nations by hosting Scotland at Twickenham on February 4.
“He has had surgery on Monday and will be out for quite a number of weeks now,” said Kidney.
“The foot injury he got prior to the November Tests didn’t respond in the way that we hoped so unfortunately it was necessary for him to go in for surgery.
“So he’ll be in a boot for maybe six weeks, and after that we’ll have to see how he recovers. He has shown good healing powers in the past, it’s just that it will definitely be the New Year before he starts playing.”
Arundell made a stunning try-scoring start to Test rugby with his first touch on England’s tour of Australia last summer.
The three-cap speedster hobbled out of Irish’s 22-21 home Gallagher Premiership loss to Gloucester on October 21.
Irish and England had hoped that managing the injury with conservative treatment could have allowed Arundell even to feature in the November Tests.
But a setback scuppered those plans, and now Arundell has come through a surgical solution that will keep him sidelined for an extended period.
Kidney backed the dedicated Arundell to handle his recovery in a mature manner that could accelerate his return to action.
“That was one of the things that impressed me when he was younger, he had a significant hamstring injury and took a fair bit of time out to recover from that one,” said Kidney.
“He knows the routine and he knows what it takes. This is where it’s important for players to have something outside of rugby to occupy their minds as well too, and that helps the healing process.
“Henry will pay every due diligence to his recovery, but then if we can maybe get him doing some further study or different activities to take his mind off, that always helps the healing process too.
“Because you find the body relaxes, takes your mind off things, and then the body heals itself up.”
