The unkindest CALCUT of all

MITCHELL MISSES SCOTS CLASH & COULD BE OUT FOR THE REMAINDER OF SIX NATIONS

ALEX MITCHELL is set to miss the rest of the Six Nations, leaving England short of experienced scrumhalf cover for the tournament.

The 26-year-old was ruled out of this Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield after injuring his knee in training last Friday.

Mitchell will not need surgery on a damaged knee ligament but England are braced for him sitting out the rest of the tournament.

The first-choice No.9 during the World Cup, Mitchell is expected back for Northampton’s end of season title run-in and Champions Cup campaign.

Danny Care will be winning his 99th cap at the weekend against Scotland and is favourite to start in Edinburgh.

But behind him England are lacking real Test knowhow with record-cap holder Ben Youngs retiring from international rugby after the World Cup and with tough games against Scotland, Ireland and France to come.

Bath’s Ben Spencer has just four caps and has not played since coming off the bench briefly in the 2019 World Cup final after flying out as cover that week.

Bristol’s Harry Randall, called into the squad when Mitchell pulled out, won the last of his two caps in 2022.

Leicester are still waiting for Jack van Poortvliet to recover from the ankle injury he suffered in a World Cup warm-up, leaving England exposed if Care (circle) gets injured.

England were nearly in a similar boat ahead of their Six Nations opener against Italy when Mitchell had an infected leg wound.

He was put on antibiotics at England’s training camp in Girona but was declared fit two days before the Rome date and put straight into the starting line-up. England joined up at their Bagshot base on Sunday night, with Steve Borthwick’s coaching set-up trying to come up with ways of neutralising Scotland fly-half and captain Finn Russell.

Russell has been central in Bath’s resurgence this season and has torn England to pieces at Murrayfield before, notably in Scotland’s 2018 win.

But defence coach Felix Jones warned there is more to the Scots than their No.10.

Jones said: “Obviously there is Finn Russell’s passing game, his ability to see space and manipulate defenders.

“But they also have some guys that have real game-breaking ability, Duhan van der Merwe, Blair Kinghorn, there are a whole host of guys there that can break a game wide open.

“It is not only their tactical approach but their skillset is significant.”