Dylan Hartley a doubt for England's game with France as Jack Nowell is ruled out for the championship
Elliot Daly could make his international return this weekend after injury
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Your support makes all the difference.Concerns have been raised about the availability of England captain Dylan Hartley after he suffered a leg injury ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with France in Paris.
Jack Nowell and Sam Underhill were ruled out of the game by forwards coach Steve Borthwick, who revealed Hartley is struggling with muscle tightness, as Eddie Jones named his 27-man squad for the trip to France.
The Northampton hooker will be monitored daily ahead of Thursday’s team announcement.
“Dylan trained yesterday (Monday) and felt a bit of tightness afterwards,” Borthwick said. “He reported that and the decision of the medical team is to monitor it daily.
“It's meant that Luke Cowan-Dickie was called up to the squad yesterday and trained fully this morning as cover.
“We have the two hookers in Dylan and Jamie and we need the third hooker as cover. And Kyle Sinckler is here as a tighthead prop as well as those are specialist positions so you need specialist cover.”
Nowell’s ankle injury keeps him out of the squad after he missed training on Tuesday, while Underhill has a toe complaint he picked up in practice.
Nowell is a regular impact substitute brought on by Eddie Jones to change the game in the late moments where opponents start to tire, a role he has fulfilled in all three of England’s games so far in the championship.
The Exeter flyer will miss the rest of the Six Nations and as a result Elliot Daly is expected to feature at some part in Saturday's game having been named in Jones' 27-man squad.
“Jack Nowell rolled his ankle in training, the same ankle that he injured earlier on this season. He has returned to Exeter,” Borthwick added. “It happened at the weekend and we did a further investigation late yesterday and a decision was made then.
"Sam took a knock to his big toe after someone trod on it. It's flared up so he's not in contention against France. He went back to his club this morning and that decision was made late last night as well after an investigation.
“We want them to recover from their injuries as quickly as possible. It's unlikely that Jack will be fit for Ireland, but we hope Sam's injury will calm down quickly. But, as we've seen in the past, whenever there are injuries there are opportunities and you can see players return quickly from injury like Sam Simmonds.”
Denny Solomona, Kyle Sinckler and Luke Cowan-Dickie have also been named in Jones' squad.
27-man squad:
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Wasps)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers)
Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks)
Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Forwards
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Nathan Hughes (Wasps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
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