Sam Underhill will miss England’s Six Nations campaign after undergoing an ankle operation.
The flanker will be out of action for up to three months as he recovers from surgery required after damaging ligaments during Bath’s victory against Leicester on 30 December. It was thought Underhill had merely rolled his ankle but after seeing a specialist it was decided he needed an operation, ruling out the 22-year-old until mid-April.
The news comes as a blow to Eddie Jones, following Underhill’s impressive displays in the autumn internationals. England begin their Six Nations campaign against Ireland in Dublin on 2 February and their final match is against Scotland at Twickenham on 16 March.
Bath, who host Wasps on Saturday, also announced the flanker Tom Ellis faces eight weeks out with an elbow injury. Wasps have announced that their England loosehead prop Matt Mullan is leaving the club by mutual consent. Mullan has not played this season as he recovers from knee surgery.
Meanwhile the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, believes the return of Maro Itoje and a pep talk from the Burnley manager, Sean Dyche, can lift his side’s midwinter blues at Lyon on Sunday.
McCall has been frustrated by the way Saracens have “emotionally responded” to decisions that have gone against them during defeats to Exeter and Sale but said Dyche’s talk, reminding the players of the importance of sticking to the things that have made them successful, really hit home.
“He was outstanding,” McCall said. “Last year Burnley overachieved and he admitted that. He felt with a little bit of success, some times, some players – even marginally – can take little shortcuts and get distracted by small things. “Those small things can have quite a big impact on a team and it is a good reminder to make sure we are not taking those shortcuts.
“Definitely in the Exeter game, second half in particular, I don’t think as a group we were handling small or large setbacks as well as we can. That is something we have talked about a lot this week. We are not getting things our own way, the way we used to. So we have to fight for everything.”
Saracens have won all four of their Champions Cup games in Pool Three, while Lyon are winless, but McCall insists his team will take nothing for granted. “They are a really good team, which is funny to say when they haven’t got any points in the competition. They beat a star-studded Montpellier side and they are the best defensive team in the Top 14. They have spirit, togetherness and fight. We are going to have to be good to win.”
Saracens are boosted by the return of Itoje, who McCall hailed as “one of the great energy-givers who leads through his actions”, while Billy Vunipola should also improve after making a nervy return from a broken arm against Sale.
“Ordinarily Billy has come back with a storming performance but this time it was more tentative,” McCall said. “That was understandable because the consultant was a bit nervous with his arm and Billy felt a bit nervous as well. But having got that out of the way hopefully we see a much more complete performance.”