Woodward reeling from Hodgson blow

ENGLAND boss Clive Woodward last night described the potential absence of Charlie Hodgson from his RBS 6 Nations Championship plans as “a huge, huge loss”.

Sale Sharks’ fly-half Hodgson joined England’s seemingly endless casualty list after suffering suspected knee ligament damage during the 40-5 victory over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.

He had been on the field for just six minutes after replacing injured captain Jonny Wilkinson.

“We think he is not going to be available for the Scotland match on Saturday week, or the rest of the RBS Six Nations tournament,” said Woodward. “We will know more in the next 48 hours if it’s worse than that.

“Potentially, I was going to start Charlie for Scotland and give Jonny Wilkinson a weekend off.”

With realistic long-term concerns about Hodgson, Woodward can now only keep his fingers crossed that some of his other injured players will be available for the Calcutta Cup clash.

Martin Johnson (Achilles), Jason Robinson (knee), Ben Cohen (thigh) and Neil Back (calf) all missed the Italy game, but should be fit to face Scotland.

Wilkinson, meanwhile, expects to play for Newcastle against Leicester next Sunday. He reported no serious problems despite taking a heavy blow on his right shoulder.

And flanker Richard Hill’s slight groin strain is not likely to keep him out of Saracens’ Premiership appointment with Wasps .

England’s victory against Italy, achieved through a staggering 33-point blitz inside the opening 22 minutes, kept them on course for a first Grand Slam since 1995. But they failed to produce anything like an 80-minute performance.

But Woodward is looking forward to setting that right. “We are currently ahead of Ireland by three points on points difference, and are really, really hoping that we can beat Scotland. I hope Ireland can beat Wales.

“We all know that we are not quite at our best yet, but the championship has the ability to come up with some exciting games, and our next two should be brilliant.”