England captain Owen Farrell ruled out of Six Nations due to injury

England head coach Eddie Jones has confirmed Owen Farrell will miss the entire Six Nations as he requires surgery on an ankle injury.

Farrell hobbled off the pitch in the second half of England’s victory over Australia back in November and the Saracens star has not featured since for either club or country.

The 30-year-old had been expected to make his long-awaited return to action for Saracens against London Irish on Sunday, but injured the same ankle during a collision in training ahead of the Challenge Cup clash.

Saracens said they expected Farrell to be unavailable for between eight and 10 weeks, with the versatile centre – a three-time Six Nations winner – set to go under the knife on Wednesday.

Courtney Lawes, Tom Curry, Maro Itoje and Ben Youngs are thought to be among the contenders to take over the reins from Farrell as England skipper for this year’s championship.

‘Owen is going to have an operation so he’ll be out of the Six Nations,’ Jones told the media ahead of England’s opener versus Scotland on February 5.

‘It’s a massive blow for him personally and for the team it’s a blow, but it’s obviously an opportunity for other guys to step up into leadership roles and for other players to play for that 12 jumper.

‘We see it more as an opportunity. In today’s rugby, having your best team on the field is a rare occurrence. We’re pretty used to it.

‘There’s an opportunity there to build a bit more leadership depth.’

Sitting beside Jones at Wednesday’s press conference, England back-rower Curry said he was confident the squad had enough experience to cope in Farrell’s absence.

‘Owen is obviously gutted and he’s a brilliant player,’ he told reporters.

‘But I think in terms of leadership the direction we’re going in is that it’s