George Kruis ruled out of the Six Nations as knee injury requires surgery and will miss next three months

Saracens lock Kruis needs an operation on the knee he injured last Tuesday and has been ruled out for three months

George Kruis will miss the rest of the season (Getty)

George Kruis will not play any part in the remainder of the Six Nations after England confirmed he has been ruled out for three months, with the knee injury he picked up in training this week requiring surgery that will leave him fighting to prove his fitness for the British and Irish Lions tour.

Kruis suffered a knee ligament injury last Tuesday during a training session with the England squad, and while he was ruled out of the weekend’s Six Nations opener, head coach Eddie Jones would not rule him out of playing some part in the remainder of the tournament.

Those hopes have been dashed though after England named a 32-man squad that will train from Monday in preparation for next Saturday’s trip to Wales, with news of Kruis’ planned knee surgery confirmed.

“George Kruis will undergo surgery on Tuesday 7 February for a knee ligament injury sustained in training earlier in the week,” read the squad update. “It is expected that the second row will require a 10-12 week rehabilitation period.”

The injury puts Kruis’s chances of securing a place in Warren Gatland’s Lions squad to tour New Zealand in serious doubt as he will not complete his rehabilitation until around 16 April at the earliest, with Gatland due to name his Lions squad three days later.

If Kruis misses the full 12 weeks, he will return after Gatland’s squad announcement and would need the New Zealander to take a risk on his selection in the hope that he proves his fitness, with Saracens’ final Premiership match and any post-season matches the only chance to get some game time under his belt.

Should Saracens repeat their double-feat of last season and reach both the Premiership and European Champions Cup finals, Kruis would likely have three matches to prove he is up to speed ahead of the 10-match tour.

With the 26-year-old out for the rest of the tournament, Jones will have to persist with the combination of Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes, who started the 19-16 victory over France on Saturday. Jones also has the option of moving Kruis’ Saracens teammatae, Maro Itoje, back to the second-row after deploying him at blindside flanker against Les Bleus, although keeping Itoje in the back-row looks to be Jones’s preferred plan.

There was also good news on the injury front for England and Saracens though as the camp confirmed that Mako Vunipola will step up his recovery from a knee ligament injury by joining the 32-man squad this week.

He joins a 32-man squad that includes Anthony Watson, although the Bath wing is still struggling with the hamstring injury that ruled him out of this weekend’s action, and Tom Wood, with the Northampton Saints flanker seen leaving Twickenham on Saturday with his right arm in a sling.