Hartley a doubt for France trip

7-2 Steadied start, held up in rear, headway over 1f out, led well inside final furlong, ran on, won at Newcastle 6f hcp 0-80 (4) in Feb beating Athollblair Boy by hd, 11 ran. 5-2fav Slowly into stride, towards rear, headway on outside over 1f out, ran on inside final furlong, never reached leaders, 4th of 7, 1 1/4l behind Excellent George at Chelmsford City 6f hcp 0-80 (4) pol. 7-1 In touch, outpaced well over 2f out, stayed on to chase leaders entering final furlong, stayed on same pace closing stages, 4th of 8, 1 1/2l behind Heaven’s Guest at Newcastle 6f hcp 0-85 (4) in Feb. 12-1 Held up towards rear, pushed along over 2f out, not much room over 1f out, headway entering final furlong, never on terms, 7th of 14, 5l behind Straight Right at Newcastle 7f hcap (2) in Feb. 9-2 Held up towards rear, headway when not clear run over 1f out, went 3rd and stayed on towards finish, 3rd of 11, 2 1/4l behind Oriental Lilly at Newcastle 6f hcp 0-80 (4) in Feb. DYLAN HARTLEY has emerged as a doubt for England’s NatWest 6 Nations clash with France, while Jack Nowell and Sam Underhill have been ruled out of the trip to Paris.

Forwards coach Steve Borthwick has revealed that Hartley is struggling with muscle tightness in a leg, while Nowell and Underhill have been afflicted by respective ankle and toe injuries sustained in training over the weekend.

Hartley, England’s captain throughout Eddie Jones’ reign, is being monitored on a daily basis ahead of tomorrow’s team announcement with Jamie George poised to start if he fails to recover and Owen Farrell the likely skipper.

The Northampton hooker is joined as a possible absentee for the penultimate round of the Six Nations by replacement tighthead prop Harry Williams, who is struggling with a neck injury.

“Dylan and Harry will be monitored on a daily basis and we’ll see how that progresses,” Borthwick said.

“Dylan trained yesterday (Monday) and felt a bit of tightness afterwards. He reported that and the decision of the medical team is to monitor it daily.

“It’s meant that Luke CowanDickie was called up to the squad and trained fully this morning as cover.

“We have the two hookers in Dylan and Jamie and we need the third hooker as cover. And Kyle Sinckler is here as a tighthead prop as well as those are specialist positions so you need specialist cover.”

Nowell is also likely to miss the climax to the tournament against Ireland on Saturday week but Underhill could be back for the final instalment.