BOOST FOR EDDIE AS INJURED 10 SET TO RETURN

EDDIE JONES is set for several early Christmas presents but he will then have a Six Nations selection headache with 10 key men primed for returns.

Sportsmail has conducted an injury audit on the front-line stars who were absent over the last month and can shed light on an increasingly positive picture for England. Mako Vunipola, Chris Robshaw, Jonathan Joseph, Ellis Genge and Nick Isiekwe are all set to feature for their clubs

before Christmas, with Billy Vunipola, Joe Launchbury, Jack Nowell, Dan Robson and Anthony Watson not far behind. With so many leading lights returning, Jones will be faced with some brutally difficult selection calls after their replacements performed well this November. First to return to action will be Genge. The Leicester prop injured his knee on the England tour

to South Africa and, having used a mobility scooter in his rehabilitation, is set to play for the Tigers against old club Bristol this Saturday for the first time this season. Billy Vunipola still needs five weeks more after breaking his arm but brother Mako and Robshaw are two weeks away as they recover from calf and knee injuries respectively. Robshaw returns to training on December 10 and has a fight on his hands for the England No 6 shirt — with Mark Wilson and Brad Shields ahead in the pecking order. Meanwhile, ex-England player Sam Burgess re-opened old wounds by accusing former team-mates of costing Stuart Lancaster and Andy Farrell their jobs in 2015. ‘What cost us an early exit was individual egos and selfish players not following our leader,’ said the cross-code convert, who quit union after the World Cup exit, on social media. ‘One day I will tell my side of the story.’