England call up Launchbury for injured flanker Ludlam

England flanker Lewis Ludlam has been ruled out of Sunday’s Six Nations match against Italy due to rib cartilage damage, with Joe Launchbury called up as cover.

Ludlam, 26, sustained the injury in the 20-17 Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland on Saturday but is expected to recover in time for the visit of Wales to Twickenham on February 26.

Injury-hit England must field an adjusted back row in the absence of Ludlam and will potentially make a change to their second row following the return of Launchbury.

Launchbury has completed two starts for Wasps following a lengthy lay-off with a knee problem and could be paired with Maro Itoje at lock, bringing his 69 caps to an inexperienced team.

“Joe’s a good Test lock,” Jones said. “He’s an outstanding mauler and a guy who is tough around the one-pass play around the ruck.

“He brings a lot of experience and at the moment experience is not something we have a lot of.”

To compound matters, it appears unlikely that Courtney Lawes will recover from concussion in time for the trip to Rome.

Lawes has not played since his outing for Northampton against Ulster on January 16 and the prospect of a comeback against Italy is receding.

“Outside at this stage,” said Jones. “He’s progressing nicely. He’s started lifting and running, but with all these injuries the most important thing is the welfare of Courtney.

“Unless he’s able to train fully (on Wednesday), then the likelihood of him being fit for Italy is less than 50 percent.”

jw/nr