England rugby fly half Fin Smith has emerged as a doubt for the start of the Six Nations after sustaining a calf injury. The 23-year-old was a late withdrawal from Northampton Saints’s defeat to Bordeaux Begles in the Investec Champions Cup last weekend and will miss their final pool fixture against the Scarlets on Sunday.
Smith is awaiting the results of a scan to determine the severity of the injury. Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said: "We're still waiting to see how long that is from a scan point of view. It's probably minimum two weeks, but with a muscle injury it's hard to give a timeline beyond that. It's not months and months and he's not going to be back this weekend, so somewhere in between that."
England open their Six Nations campaign against Wales at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday 7 February. Smith lost his starting place at fly half to George Ford in November, starting only against Fiji with Steve Borthwick preferring the veteran in the side’s three other games.
The Northampton playmaker toured Australia with the British and Irish Lions last summer and recently extended his contract at Saints. Borthwick is due to name his squad for the Six Nations next Friday, with England set to head to Girona for a pre-tournament training camp.
