Johnson hopeful of Lawes return for Six Nations

England manager Martin Johnson remains hopeful that injured lock Courtney Lawes may yet feature in this season’s Six Nations after a knee injury appeared to rule him out of the championship.

Johnson’s preparations for the Six Nations have been thrown into turmoil in recent weeks, with key forwards Lawes and Tom Croft injured and second row Dave Attwood picking up a suspension for stamping.

Both Croft and Lawes – two vital components of England’s improved performances in the autumn series – were believed to have no chance of playing in the Six Nations after suffering shoulder and knee injuries respectively.

However Johnson is clinging to the hope that both men may be able to recover before England conclude their campaign against Ireland in Dublin on March 19.

“Tom and Courtney both have a chance of playing rugby by the end of the tournament,” Johnson said Wednesday as he announced a 33-man squad for the series.

“Tom is making good progress with the Leicester medics and our guys and it is the same with Courtney, so they are both week to week and hopefully they will be fitter sooner rather than later and make the end of the tournament.

“Courtney saw the specialist last night and, like in all these things, straight after the injury they take an image and interpret that. I would love him to be out for just six weeks, it may be 10 weeks but it is probably going to be eight or nine weeks. These things can change week by week.”

Both Lawes and Croft were named in Johnson’s squad Wednesday with their replacements to be announced at a later date.

Lawes’ injury could open the wat for the return former captain Steve Borthwick. Northampton flanker Tom Wood is tipped to replace Croft.

Johnson meanwhile made two changes to his squad, with Leicester lock Louis Deacon replacing Attwood and Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson coming in for injured club-mate Dominic Waldouck.

Johnson has also added fly-half Charlie Hodgson into the player pool for the tournament, which kicks off against Wales in Cardiff on February 4.

Deacon returns to the squad after missing last year’s tour to Australia and the autumn internationals with a back injury, which enabled the combative Attwood to step up and impress Johnson.

Attwood however was ruled out of England’s opening matches against Wales and Italy after being banned for stamping during Gloucester’s recent European Challenge Cup defeat to La Rochelle.

Attwood was named in England’s second-tier Saxons squad although he could return to the senior ranks to replace Lawes once his suspension has run its course.

England squad
Forwards: George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Hendre Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lewis Moody (Bath Rugby), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Simon Shaw (London Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Steve Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), David Wilson (Bath Rugby), Joe Worsley (London Wasps)

Backs: Delon Armitage (London Irish), Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Riki Flutey (London Wasps), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby), Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), David Strettle (Saracens), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)