Five players called up as injuries hit England ahead of Six Nations opener

England have called in five replacements for injured players to join the squad ahead of their Six Nations opener against Ireland on February 1.

England will begin their campaign against the defending champions in Dublin, an assignment made all the harder with additional injuries to five players, including forwards Jamie George and Alex Dombrant.

Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints) and Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks) will all join the squad as England's preparations begin on Tuesday at the team's training base in Girona, Spain.

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The five new players replace Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers) and Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), as well as George (Saracens) and Dombrandt (Harlequins), all of whom sustained injuries while playing for their clubs over the weekend.

Mitchell is a doubt for the first Six Nations match but will travel with the squad to Girona to continue his rehabilitation.

George had been replaced as England captain by club team-mate Maro Itoje when Steve Borthwick named his Six Nations squad, he then suffered a hamstring injury late in Saracens' 32-24 Champions Cup defeat by Castres and has been ruled of playing in the first Six Nations weekend.

Six Nations 2025 fixtures: England

• February 1: Ireland (a)
• February 8: France (h)
• February 22: Scotland (h)
• March 9: Italy (h)
• March 15: Wales (a)