Harlequins remain hopeful Joe Marler has avoided a long-term arm injury, with England also sweating on the prop’s fitness.
Marler and Quins are still waiting on the results of MRI scans after the 33-year-old was forced out of Saturday’s 32-26 Premiership win over Gloucester at Twickenham.
Marler has transferred his fine Rugby World Cup form back to the domestic season with Quins, and will be central to England boss Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations plans.
Bristol prop Ellis Genge is battling to shake off a hamstring problem in time to be fit for England’s Six Nations opener against Italy in Rome on Saturday, February 4.
Sale loosehead Bevan Rodd will miss the entire Six Nations after toe surgery, so England could well do with Marler being ready for Test duty next month.
Rugby director Billy Millard insisted Quins’ medical team are continuing their examinations to determine the extent of Marler’s injury, but remained hopeful that the experienced campaigner can avoid a long lay-off.
“Joe’s been seeing the specialists and has still been being assessed,” said Millard. “I don’t want to speculate but fingers crossed it’s only a short-term one, he’s big for us in so many ways.
“God love him, Joe battled on for us for a long time at the weekend. We’ve got Fin Baxter who came on and did incredibly well for us as well, so we are blessed in that position. But fingers crossed for Joe, hopefully it’s not a long one.”
Bristol remain confident that Genge will win his Six Nations fitness battle, to be ready to start the tournament opener in Rome. Genge will number among the frontrunners to replace Owen Farrell as England captain, with the regular skipper taking a Test match break.
The likes of Bath’s Beno Obano would come into consideration given his strong form.
Saracens front-rower Vunipola will be in the mix too, having missed the World Cup with back trouble.
The 32-year-old will now be free to start the Six Nations, but will miss the preceding four club matches through suspension.
Vunipola was sent off in Saracens’ 37-19 Premiership win over Newcastle at StoneX Stadium on Saturday, for a high tackle on Falcons hooker Bryan Byrne. The Lions prop has been handed a four-week suspension, and will miss the rest of Sarries’ matches this month.
That means Vunipola will be unable to head into the Six Nations with any recent match minutes under his belt.
Borthwick will be able to lean on his experience and resilience, if the England boss opts to bring him back into the fold, however.
Vunipola argued in an independent disciplinary hearing that he did not consider the challenge worthy of a red card, but the panel disagreed. He was unable to go through World Rugby’s tackle school programme, having done so in 2022.
So he will now miss Saturday’s Premiership trip to Leicester, European clashes with Bordeaux and Lyon, and the league clash with Exeter on January 27.
