BILLY VUNIPOLA is set to miss the start of England’s Six Nations campaign after suffering a fractured forearm playing for Saracens against Ospreys on Saturday.

Saracens confirmed the injury in a short statement, leaving England boss Eddie Jones to plan for a likely campaign without the experienced number eight.

The news is a big blow for Jones, who will name his squad on Thursday for the Six Nations opener against Italy in Rome on February 4.

He is already braced for the unavailability of forward James Haskell, who was shown a red card in Wasps’s 33-28 Champions Cup defeat to Harlequins on Saturday.

Tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby will now convene a disciplinary hearing for 32-year-old Haskell, which is likely to take place in the next few days. He could face a ban of up to six weeks.

The flanker has just been restored to Jones’s extended squad after emerging from a spell of indifferent form and would have been in the champions’ plans for Rome and beyond.

Vunipola faces a further spell on the sidelines, with the draw against Ospreys marking only his second comeback game after a three-month absence with knee trouble.