England statement: Replacement named as Nick Isiekwe drops out

Steve Borthwick’s Guinness Six Nations preparations have suffered another hiccup as Nick Isiekwe has become the fourth player to drop out of the England squad this week ahead of the February 3 campaign opener away to Italy.

It was last Tuesday, before England’s departure to their Girona warm weather base where they will stay before moving to Rome on February 1, when the RFU confirmed that three players – Bath’s Ollie Lawrence, Harlequins’ Oscar Beard and Sale’s Luke Cowan-Dickie – had been forced to pull out of the originally named 36-strong squad due to injuries sustained in last weekend’s Investec Champions Cup.

Their places in Girona were taken by Bath duo Max Ojomoh and Will Muir, along with Newcastle’s Jamie Blamire, and Bath are again the beneficiaries of this latest squad tweak, the RFU confirming that Charlie Ewels will now step in for the ill Isiekwe.

The 28-year-old lock was last capped by England in March 2022 when he was sent off just 82 seconds into the Twickenham Six Nations defeat by Ireland.

He subsequently suffered an ACL injury and having spent some time on loan at the Pretoria-based Bulls last year to get some comeback game time, he has since been restored to the Bath line-up under Johann van Graan, starting in a dozen of his 13 appearances this season.

A statement read: “Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) has been called into the England men’s Guinness Six Nations training squad to replace Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), who has returned home because of illness. Ewels will arrive at England’s training base in Girona later today.”