Leg injury may rule out Owen Farrell

England face the prospect of entering their Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland without Owen Farrell after concerns over his fitness escalated on the eve of the Twickenham showdown.

Farrell was unable to take part in the captain’s run yesterday due to the unspecified leg injury sustained in training 24 hours earlier and he now faces a race against time to prove he can take part in the Triple Crown decider.

The Saracens playmaker, due to start at inside centre, faces a period of intensive rehabilitation in his quest to be ready, with England prepared to make a late call.

“Owen didn’t train today (Friday) and we’re monitoring his leg injury. It’s a leg injury,” defence coach Paul Gustard said.

“We have until tomorrow before kick-off to make a decision, which means he has at least another 24 hours of recovery ahead of him. We’ll make a call as and when we know more.”

Uncertainty over Farrell’s injury has risen since a Eddie Jones on Thursday gave conflicting answers about his availability to face Scotland. Jones joked that the Saracens playmaker initially sustained the injury — the details of which England will not divulge — during a collision with his dog Annie during the final training session of the week at the squad’s Surrey base.

When asked for an update on Farrell, a prickly Jones offered contrary messages. “Owen could be a doubt, he could be a doubt. He’s got a bad leg, so he couldn’t finish training. He’ll be all right,’’ Jones said.

With or without Farrell, England’s James Haskell is still determined to make social media a “positive environment” despite being mocked in the wake of England’s victory over Italy.

Haskell continues in the back row for the penultimate round of the RBS 6 Nations on Saturday, when a resurgent Scotland visit Twickenham, hoping that his intentions are not misinterpreted once again.

The Wasps flanker’s attempts to gain clarification from referee Romain Poite over Italy’s no-rucking tactics at Twickenham a fortnight ago were savaged on social media, of which he is a prolific user.

Poite responded to one enquiry with the line “I am a referee, I am not a coach”, but Haskell refuses to be embarrassed and will persevere with his ambition of making use of platforms like Twitter and Instagram a more pleasant experience.

“When anything happens, the passion of those following England comes out,” Haskell said.

“If you ask people if they support rugby, they just say ‘yeah, England’. People are quite surprised there is even a Premiership, let alone anything else.

“Everyone always comes out and gets very passionate. I’m on a one-man mission to make social media a positive environment so I try to be straight-talking and share my opinion.

“Some people like it, some people don’t. That’s why you’ve got a block button.

“You’ve got a have a really thick skin. Everything I do in those environments is for what’s best for the team.

“The thing with social media is that it has given everyone a voice.

“As we have learned by looking at certain things recently — I’d quite like to go to America so I won’t go into too much detail — some people shouldn’t necessarily be allowed to tweet and say what they want.

“There’s that expression – opinions are like arseholes, everyone’s got one and everyone thinks theirs doesn’t stink.”

Meanwhile Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg insists it will be no shock if his side stun England at Twickenham.

“We’re more than capable of winning and we’re going to do everything we can to make that happen,” said Hogg.

“We’re very much in a position to come down here and win — and nothing is going to stand in our way.

“We’re very much a work in progress, but since Vern came in we’ve come on leaps and bounds.

“We’re not just going to lie down and get our bellies tickled, we’re going to go out and try to get some victories.

“Slowly but surely we’re starting to get respect. Do other teams still underestimate us? Yeah, possibly, but that’s up to them.”