<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
England are hopeful Marcus Smith will be available for the end of the Six Nations campaign, and Alex Mitchell could join him.
Both midfielders have been sidelined due to injury and there were doubts about whether they would appear in the rest of the campaign.
However, head coach Steve Borthwick issued a positive update as his team prepares for tough tests against Ireland and France.
“I’m very hopeful that Marcus will be available for selection in this latter part of the tournament,” Borthwick said. “We have positive news about Alex Mitchell’s injury, we are hopeful that he will be involved in the latter part of this tournament, we are not sure if it will be the next game but we are hopeful that he will be available as well.”
Smith left England’s training camp on crutches with a calf injury, while Mitchell suffered a knee injury in outdoor training.
England hopeful Marcus Smith will be fit for Six Nations final
There are also hopes that Alex Mitchell will return to action sooner rather than later.
Head coach Steve Borthwick provided a positive injury update following the loss to Scotland on Saturday.
Both players missed Saturday’s Calcutta Cup and their return would leave Borthwick with a difficult selection decision after veterans Danny Care and George Ford failed in the defeat to Scotland.
England will train in York this week, before returning to Twickenham to face Grand Slam contenders Ireland.
Number 8 Ben Earl insisted England will not hide and wreck their game plan.
England number 8 Ben Earl has insisted England will not change their game plan despite the defeat.
“We love the way we play,” Earl said. “I really enjoyed that (Scotland) match for the most part, the scoreline aside, I thought it was a brilliant test match, coming down to such fine margins.
We’ve got two weeks trying to figure out how we can beat them (Ireland). They are probably one of the two or three best teams in the world, but I have every confidence that our team leaders and coaches will find a solution to beat them. I thought about last year’s Six Nations, although I wasn’t involved, for 50 or 60 minutes we were good in that game. Once again, can we take a step forward as a team? Can we continue to improve as a group?’