England Fly-half Owen Farrell Survives Six Nations Injury Scare

England fly-half Owen Farrell will make a full recovery following a head injury and is not thought to be a doubt for the Six Nations despite being stretchered off while playing for Saracens against Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

Farrell was carried off in a neck brace in the 67<sup>th minute after a worrying 10-minute assessment from the team doctor.

The England man was knocked unconscious before hitting the ground after his head came into contact with the hip of Vereniki Gonvea mid-tackle.

"Owen has a bang on the head and will go through the normal protocols, but is fine," said Saracens' director of rugby Mark McCall whose team went on to convincingly beat Tigers 49-10 at Allianz Park.

Farrell's close-call less than two months from the start of the Six Nations has once again highlighted England's threadbare squad.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster's is expected to be without Manu Tuilagi, Marland Yarde, Christian Wade, Alex Corbisiero, Geoff Parling and Tom Croft while Ben Foden and Joel Tomkins aren't expected to be fit until the latter part of the championship.

The biggest area of concern for Lancaster is in the backs but England and Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw believes the talent pool is big enough to retain hope of winning the Six Nations.

"Of course it's very unfortunate to have so many injuries in that position [wing] but it allows somebody else to have the opportunity to come in and I think with English rugby at the moment we have very good strength in depth," said the flanker.

"I think the way Stuart has got it; players can come and feel comfortable with the set-up. From wing all the way to full-back, we have players who can come into every position and it actually gives a player the chance to put their hands up, come in and impress."

He added: "It's about making sure we put our best team out there and getting the right response and doing the best we can.

"We tried to do it last year and fell at the last hurdle but we finished as runners-up in our last two attempts so it's something we want to put right."

England kick off their opening Six Nations match against France at Stade de France on 1 February.