England’s preparations for their Six Nations opener away to Italy suffered a setback with the withdrawal of three players from the squad because of injury.
Up front, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie pulled out as head coach Steve Borthwick prepared to take his squad to Girona, Spain, for a pre-tournament training camp.
Midfielder Oscar Beard was concussed during Harlequins’ European win over Ulster on Saturday while Cowan-Dickie left the field in the second half of Sale’s defeat by La Rochelle a day later because of an undisclosed medical condition.
Ollie Lawrence made it to the end of Bath’s loss at Toulouse on Sunday but no details of his injury have yet been made public.
Uncapped Bath centre Max Ojomoh, the son of former England back-row forward Steve Ojomoh, and clubmate Will Muir have been called into England’s 36-man squad to provide back-line cover, with Newcastle’s Jamie Blamire replacing Cowan-Dickie.
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Lawrence had been tipped to form a centre partnership with the recalled Henry Slade for England’s match against Italy in Rome on February 3 and it will be an issue for Borthwick if he is ruled out of the Stadio Olimpico fixture.
Lawrence has impressed for Bath this season and, significantly, can play at either outside centre, his favoured role, or switch to inside centre.
Slade is a more natural fit at outside centre, leaving the uncapped Fraser Dingwall poised to wear the No 12 shirt if Lawrence is unavailable.
Beard will still travel to Girona as he completes the return to play protocols for concussion but Cowan-Dickie will remain in England to see a specialist.
England, who finished third at last year’s World Cup, have yet to lose against Italy.
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