Injured Youngs set to miss Wales clash

ENGLAND were due to discover the extent of Ben Youngs’ knee injury today - but the Leicester scrum-half is expected be ruled out for at least one Six Nations match.

Youngs suffered ligament damage nine minutes into a 46-15 victory over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico and had to be driven from the pitch on the medical cart.

The 28-year-old cried out in pain after his knee buckled awkwardly during a tackle, ending his afternoon and leaving him a major doubt for at least Saturday’s clash with Wales at Twickenham.

Head coach Eddie Jones said after the game: “Ben will have an examination tomorrow so we will know more after that.

“He is unlikely to be available for the Wales game.

“It is too early to make any sort of prediction but I am always optimistic.”

No 8 Sam Simmonds and wing Anthony Watson (pictured right) crossed twice each in a seven-try rout of Italy, whose endeavour was not reflected in the scoreline, and Jones was delighted by their contributions.

He added: “Sam is a good young lad with a great set of skills.

“If he was a cricketer he would be playing Twenty20.

“He is a bit different - he is fast and runs good lines.

“He is a completely humble boy who just gets on with it. He has fitted into the team well.

“He is different to Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes and sometimes it takes sides a bit of time to adjust to that, but our adjustment was good.”

Jones went on: “At the end of the game we played lovely rugby.

“I was really pleased with the effort. Italy were always going to be difficult.

“Our scrum and lineout were first-class.

“I don’t think we have scrummed as well as that in the time I have been in charge of England.

“We were completely dominant and that is English rugby. “When the game broke up at the end we were able to score tries.

“Defensively we made errors and they were able to capitalise on them but they are something we can work on and fix. It was not the perfect game but very, very positive.”

It has been 1,072 days since Italy won a Six Nations match and coach Conor O’Shea had mixed feelings over their latest defeat.

He said: “I am proud and angry. Proud because we saw a team with a lot of potential for the future.

“Annoyed because we caused them a lot of problems with the ball.

“It is a step forward. We played against a great team. We had opportunities and it was a good game.

“It is a long, hard road ahead for us and we will have to be more disciplined against Ireland.”

Italy captain Sergio Parisse finished the game with a rib injury and will undergo a scan.