England suffer major setback ahead of Calcutta Cup
SQUAD ANNOUNCMENT: England’s hopes of reclaiming the Calcutta Cup have been dealt a major blow ahead of the Six Nations clash against Scotland.
England scrumhalf Alex Mitchell has been ruled out of the Six Nations clash with Scotland next weekend after suffering a knee injury.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) confirmed on Sunday that Mitchell will miss the Calcutta Cup showdown at Murrayfield, with no date set for his return.
Harry Randall has been named as the replacement in Steve Borthwick’s 36-man training squad.
Danny Care and Ben Spencer are competing to fill the void left by Mitchell in the number nine jersey.
Mitchell has established himself as England’s first-choice scrumhalf since forcing his way into the squad for last year’s World Cup despite being dropped early in the build-up campaign.
He started the semifinal loss to South Africa and retained Borthwick’s approval for the victories over Italy and Wales that have opened the Six Nations.
Centre Ollie Lawrence, who sat out the first two rounds of the Six Nations because of a hip injury, has been passed fit to resume full training this week.
Lawrence has been missing since late January with a problem sustained with his club Bath.
Marcus Smith will join up with the squad to continue his rehabilitation from injury.
Borthwick names his team on Thursday as England look to stop a run of three successive defeats against old rivals Scotland.
England 36-man squad:
Forwards:
Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Theo Dan, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler, George Martin, Beno Obano, Ethan Roots, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill
Backs:
Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Lawrence, Max Ojomoh, Harry Randall, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi
