Maro Itoje will be available for the start of England’s Six Nations title defence after Saracens revealed he faces a maximum of four more weeks in rehabilitation.
The England second-row required surgery on a fractured jaw, resulting in two plates being inserted into his face and raising the alarm that he may not be fit to face Italy on February 4.
But a visit to the specialist offered a diagnosis of up to six weeks in the treatment room, pointing to a return for the final two rounds of Saracens’ Champions Cup group campaign against the Ospreys and Northampton.