Wigglesworth is called up to replace the injured Youngs

ENGLAND have called up Richard Wigglesworth to replace the injured Ben Youngs for Saturday’s Nat West 6 Nations clash with Wales.

Youngs suffered knee ligament damage in the seven-try rout of Italy on Sunday and will miss at least the Twickenham showdown with Warren Gatland’s men and possibly the entire tournament.

The Leicester scrum-half’s name was missing from the 32 summoned to England’s Surrey training base, confirming Wigglesworth will provide cover for Danny Care as a replacement against Wales.

A scan undertaken on Monday afternoon will determine Youngs’ fate and it is also an important week for Nathan Hughes, who is to be assessed by medics to see whether he will play any role in this Six Nations.

His participation is threatened by a knee injury sustained in December, although the Fiji-born number eight was expected to be back for the latter rounds.

The absence of Billy Vunipola, who will sit out the entire Championship with his own knee problem, will mean Hughes’ availability would be a substantial boost, even if Sam Simmonds demonstrated in Rome that he is an exciting alternative.

Care hopes Youngs’ misfortune will enable him to become England’s most capped scrum-half as a starter.

Care stepped off the bench to equal Matt Dawson’s record of 77 Red Rose appearances in the number nine jersey and with Youngs stricken when his knee buckled awkwardly beneath him during a tackle, a place in the starting XV now awaits.

“You never want to see a bad injury like that and I was gutted to see Ben in so much pain,” Care said.

“First things first, he’s a good mate as well as a competitor for the shirt. He’s in pain and all our thoughts are with him.

“Hopefully the scan will bring good news and all the boys are thinking of him.

“He was in the changing room after the game and was still in good spirits, we’re just hoping it will be good news.

“It would be great to get into the number nine shirt for the Wales game having had 70 minutes under my belt, which is great because I love being out there with the boys.”

For the majority of his reign, and even when naming a wider squad, Eddie Jones has relied on only two scrum-halves in Youngs and Care so for the first time he has revealed his third choice in the position.

Wigglesworth won the last of his 27 caps during the 2015 World Cup but the 34-year-old Saracen is an outstanding game manager with a strong kicking game.