A punishing weekend of European club rugby has left England head coach Eddie Jones with a leadership emergency, after injury scares for Owen Farrell and two key forwards.
A day after Farrell was left out of the Saracens line-up against Glasgow to have surgery on a tendon injury in his thumb, Brad Shields was withdrawn from the Wasps side to face Leinster and Joe Launchbury suffered a neck injury.
Nathan Hughes felt discomfort in his ankle after landing awkwardly during the same game, and Sportsmail understands uncapped Gloucester wing Ollie Thorley may have also picked up an injury, although the extent of it is unclear.
A punishing weekend of European club rugby has left Eddie Jones with a leadership problem
Farrell is expected to be out for between a week and 10 days, according to his club's director of rugby, Mark McCall. That could mean he is unable to train until two days before Jones is due to name his team for the Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin on February 2.
Doubt about the fly-half's availability for the start of the championship comes at a time when the man he shared the England captaincy with in November, Dylan Hartley, is still recovering from a knee injury.
The veteran Northampton hooker was omitted from the 35-man squad named by Jones last week, amid fears that he may require an operation.
Another player with vast Test captaincy experience, Chris Robshaw, is on the casualty list, too - removing another candidate for the role in Dublin.
Shields watched Wasps' loss to Leinster and Launchbury went off for a head injury assessment (HIA) and failed to re-appear. The lock missed the autumn series at Twickenham after knee surgery and this latest scare could threaten his prospects of an early return to the national team.
Owen Farrell was left out of the Saracens line-up to have surgery on a tendon injury
Brad Shields watched Wasps' loss to Leinster and Joe Launchbury went off for a head injury
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said: 'He got
