Lawes and Hill to miss England opener vs Scotland
Forwards Courtney Lawes and Jonny Hill will miss England’s Six Nations opener against Scotland this Saturday.
Lawes, the flanker, continues to recover from a concussion while lock Hill has been ruled out with a foot injury.
Neither player was able to take part in training on Tuesday and will miss the clash at Murrayfield this weekend.
Marler returns from COVID absence
Harlqeuins prop Joe Marler has returned to the England camp following his period of self-isolation following a positive COVID test.
The 31-year-old tested positive at the start of England's training camp after scrummaging against Gaëtan Barlot of Castres on Friday 21 January, with both props contacting COVID days after the game.
Marler is competing for the losehead role with Leicester's Ellis Genge also in contention for the number one shirt with both players in good form at the moment.
The news of Marler's return will be a boost for Eddie Jones with the disappointing news of the injuries to Lawes and Hill and with Marler's Quins teammate Joe Marchant having tested positive for COVID
This further dents England's options in the centres with Manu Tuilagi's return date uncertain and Owen Farrell ruled out of the entire tournament.
This means that Gloucester's Mark Atkinson could be in line for a starting role after an impressive season for the Cherry and Whites, he could play alongside Exeter's outside-centre Henry Slade or even Harlequins' Luke Northmore.
Another Quins player, Louis Lynagh has been called into the squad alongside Newcastle's Adam Radwan, with the two wingers in to provide cover and allow Elliot Daly to cover the centres.
Guscott to step back from Six Nations coverage
Jeremy Guscott has relinquished his role in the BBC's live coverage of the Six Nations with a major shake-up announced for the organisation's coverage of the annual rugby union competition.
Guscott played 65 times for England and has been part of BBC coverage since 2000, but this will be the first time since then that he is not part of the team.
He played 266 times for Bath and was part of the team that won the 1999 Heineken Cup as well as kicking the winning drop goal on the 1997 Lions Tour.
Born in Bath, the legendary centre had been a popular figure on peoples' screens along with other stars of the 90s Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies and Andy Nicol but this is the first year that the BBC have begun to look at more recent stars of the game for punditry.
However, with the BBC looking to target new audiences, Strictly Come Dancing star Ugo Monye is set to take on more of a prominent role in the coverage with Gabby Logan staying on as host.
