England lock Maro Itoje in Six Nations fitness race amid fears he suffered broken jaw

Fitness race: Maro Itoje
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Chris Jones4 December 2017

Maro Itoje faces a race against time to be for the start of the Six Nations, amid fears he suffered a broken jaw against Harlequins.

The Saracens and England lock was hurt in the 48th minute of his side’s 20-19 defeat at The Stoop on Sunday when he collided with Mike Brown’s shoulder.

Itoje was taken to hospital with blood streaming from his mouth and Sarries are anxiously awaiting the results of a scan.

A fractured jaw or cheekbone would make him a major doubt for England’s Six Nations opener on February 4 against Italy in Rome, while he will definitely miss the European Champions Cup double -header against French champions Clermont Auvergne.

Sarries’ director of rugby Mark McCall, meanwhile, admits his side are in “unchartered territory” after suffering a fifth consecutive defeat.

Sarries led Quins 16-8 with 10 minutes of the match to go.

He said: “It’s incredibly disappointing to lose a game that we should have won.

“We chucked it away, to be honest. We gave away some terrible penalties but particularly in the last 15 minutes when we didn’t need to.

“We just needed to be smart in what we did. We’re okay. We’re third in the Premiership, top of our Champions Cup pool and have big games coming up, starting with Clermont at Allianz Park on Sunday.”

Clermont have injury problems of their own, with former All Black Luke McAlister set to miss both games against Sarries after suffering a suspected broken hand in the win over Agen yesterday.

Clermont are already without Lions scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, who is recovering from a broken ankle.

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