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Billy Vunipola’s forearm injury is headache Eddie Jones could do without

<span>Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters</span>
Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters

England are poised to kick off the Six Nations without Billy Vunipola after the No 8 sustained a suspected broken forearm in the opening minutes of Saracens’ Champions Cup pool win against Racing 92. Eddie Jones is also having to deal with the continuing fallout from the salary cap saga as he prepares to unveil his squad for the tournament.

Vunipola, 27, played in every game of England’s World Cup campaign but is facing another lengthy lay-off with what his club fears is his fourth fractured forearm in two years. Previously he has broken his right arm twice and his left once. “It looks like a suspected broken arm,” the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, said.

Related: Relegated Saracens edge out Racing 92 to reach Champions Cup quarter-finals

If he is ruled out again, the ramifications for Jones will also be considerable with England due to play their opening Six Nations game against France in Paris on Sunday week. Among those pressing for back-row recognition are Exeter’s fit-again Sam Simmonds, Saracens’ Ben Earl and Harlequins’ Alex Dombrandt, with Sale’s Ben Curry also determined to join his twin brother Tom in the squad one day.

The highly promising Earl could well make the 35-man squad regardless but Saracens’ impending relegation to the Championship leaves him and Jones with a looming dilemma. The head coach needs his younger contenders to be playing competitive club rugby and McCall says he intends to consult Jones to identify which players the latter needs to see at a higher level next season.

“Someone like Ben Earl we’d like to keep at the club for the next five years but he’s close to getting on the England team so we’ve got to see where Eddie’s head is at and where Ben’s head is at,” said McCall. “There’s a Lions tour at the end of next season as well, so we have to talk to Warren Gatland about what he would like from the Saracens players who are in contention. There’s a bit to be done.”

There is also the pressing issue of how easy it will be for Saracens’ highest-profile players to switch their focus to Six Nations matters with so many major distractions swirling around them. Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Jamie George, George Kruis and Mako Vunipola, among others, have grown up at Saracens while Elliot Daly and Ben Spencer also featured in the World Cup final in November.

“The players love the club and they know how important it has been to their development, not only as a player but as a person,” said the club captain, Brad Barritt. “It is a very difficult period to navigate.”

The Rugby Football Union has clarified that Jones can pick players playing for Championship clubs but, as yet, there is no definitive word on whether any England players joining clubs abroad would still be eligible for the national team under the “exceptional circumstances” clause. It is also unclear how many of Saracens’ sizeable international contingent will choose to remain with Saracens and play second-tier rugby, presumably with a pay cut. McCall has confirmed there are no relegation clauses in his players’ contracts.

Related: ‘Punishment is not proportionate’ – Saracens fans lick their wounds | Ian Malin

Jones must also weigh up whether to jettison some experienced senior members of his squad, with the Test futures of Leicester’s Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi the subject of some debate. Among those close to inclusion must be Saracens’ Nick Isiekwe, Bath’s Will Stuart and Northampton’s George Furbank, with table-topping Exeter also hoping for more representation after their latest bonus point win over La Rochelle.

The industrious lock Jonny Hill is worth another look and the fly-half Joe Simmonds is improving steadily while the director of rugby, Rob Baxter, believes his hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie deserves to be selected ahead of Saracens’ George in the Six Nations. “I thought the standout guy today was Luke Cowan-Dickie. He is a guy who is absolutely bang on form.

“Obviously competition is stiff and Jamie George has the shirt at the moment but, if you broke down Luke’s performance today and looked at his individual actions, they are tough for any other hooker to compete with. Hopefully that is how he will be judged going into the England camp.”