England struck by more injuries as Elliot Daly and Nathan Hughes could miss entire Six Nations

Eddie Jones is already without a number of first-team players and could lose the Wasps duo if they need surgery

Elliot Daly suffered an ankle injury in Wasps' victory over La Rochelle on Sunday (Getty)

England head coach Eddie Jones could be without Nathan Hughes, Elliot Daly and Ben Te’o for the entire Six Nations campaign next year after the trio suffered potentially serious injuries, adding to the mounting casualty list that the Australian is having to cope with.

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young confirmed that both Hughes and Daly may need surgery following Sunday’s impressive 21-3 victory over Top 14 leaders La Rochelle, a blow that would rule them out for around three months and likely the entire Six Nations Championship next February and March.

Young said that both Hughes – who suffered a recurrence of a knee injury that has bothered him recently – and Daly – who limped off with ankle damage – will see specialists before determining if surgery is required, and the likelihood is that they will miss at least a month even if operations are not necessary.

“We can safely say they are ruled out for a month, even with the best picture,” Young said.

“Four weeks would be the best scenario, but it could be as much as 12 if they have an operation.

“With Elliot's ankle he will have to go through a rehab process - it is whether he needs surgical intervention. Nathan felt a knock on his knee so we took him off pretty sharpish. The scans backed it up that they had significant injuries that needed to be respected.”

Te’o, who impressed on the British and Irish Lions tour in the summer as he forced his way into the Test side, has not played for Worcester Warriors since October due to an ongoing ankle injury, and his director of rugby Gary Gold confirmed he is still at least six weeks away from a return.

Nathan Hughes will miss at least four weeks and could be out for up to 12 if he needs surgery (Getty)

Having not played at least three months by the time he returns, Te’o is unlikely to feature in the Six Nations from the start, and given the complications around his ankle injury that that has taken much longer than initially expected to heal, he could miss the entire championship.

Jones already has a number of players sidelined through injury, although there is some good news in that both Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola are due to return before the start of the Six Nations from knee and jaw injuries respectively. Chris Robshaw and Danny Care suffered head injuries in last weekend’s European Champions Cup defeat by Ulster, but the Harlequins pair are not thought to be long-term absentees.

Ben Te'o has not played since October (Getty)

Leicester Tigers prop Ellis Genge will definitely miss the start of the Six Nations though after having surgery on an injured shoulder at the start of the month, while Sam Underhill is yet to recover from the concussion that he suffered against Australia last month.