• Exeter centre limped off during win over Leicester • Rob Baxter says he is going to be out for ‘a little while’

Henry Slade has emerged as an injury concern for the start of England’s Six Nations campaign after the Exeter director of rugby, Rob Baxter, revealed the player’s injury to his right ankle is expected to be “relatively serious”. 

Slade limped off during the first half of Exeter’s impressive 31-22 win over Leicester in the Premiership on Saturday, having suffered separate injuries to both ankles.  The injury to the right one is considered the more serious because it is the one he dislocated in December 2015 when he also sustained a horrific leg break which required the insertion of a plate just above the joint. 

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The 26-year-old centre has started six of Exeter’s seven matches since returning from the World Cup – the first of which came just eight days after England’s final defeat by South Africa in Yokohama.  he endured a difficult campaign, starting just one of England’s matches – the quarter-final victory over Australia – and appearing off the bench four times.  During this year’s Six Nations he established himself as England’s first-choice outside centre but an untimely knee injury meant Eddie Jones turned to a midfield trio of George Ford, Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi. 

Jones said after the World Cup final he should have selected Slade against South Africa instead of Ford, but that will come as little consolation if he is denied the chance to stake his claim for a Six Nations starting berth.  Baxter said on Monday it was too early to put an exact timeframe on Slade’s recovery but confirmed he will miss Sunday’s mouthwatering Premiership clash with Saracens. 

With Jones announcing his Six Nations squad on 20 January, Slade now faces a race against time to prove his fitness. “ He’s going to be out for a little while,” Baxter added. “ We’re obviously having it assessed continually but it’s not something he’ll be able to get over in a week or two.  We’ve got to assess that further as the week goes on but it looks like it could be relatively serious.  I’m not saying he necessarily needs a major operation but at this stage the initial signs are that it’s going to a little while to get right.” 

The Munster team doctor accused of making a remark to the Saracens hooker Jamie George in an incident which sparked a 30-man brawl is set for a disciplinary hearing, meanwhile.  Champions Cup organisers have confirmed a misconduct complaint has been brought against Dr Jamie Kearns, who is alleged by Saracens to have said “something derogatory” to George about his weight during the defending champions’ 15-6 victory earlier this month. The Sale director of rugby, Steve Diamond, will also face a disciplinary hearing for comments made after his side’s defeat by Exeter.  Before swiftly insisting he was joking, Diamond said: “I just said to the referee: ‘Good game and your touch judge has had a brilliant game.’  Hopefully that’ll go through to their assessors and we’ll never see the bastards again in Manchester.”