Vickery adds to England injury woes

England’s injury jinx returned with a vengeance tonight just eight days before the faltering world champions tackle RBS 6 Nations title favourites Ireland in Dublin.

Prop Phil Vickery will miss the rest of the tournament after breaking his arm during Gloucester’s 17-16 Zurich Premiership victory over Bath at Kingsholm.

Centre Olly Barkley, meanwhile, is battling to make the Lansdowne Road clash. He withdrew from Bath’s starting line-up with a calf muscle injury, and faces a hospital scan tomorrow.

And Gloucester centre Henry Paul, who started at fly-half today, limped out of the action because of an ankle problem.

With Vickery’s fellow tighthead, Leicester forward Julian White, already absent from the Ireland game due to a neck injury, England boss Andy Robinson faces a front-row crisis.

Robinson could take a punt on inexperienced Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan - although he favours the loosehead side of the scrum – or Northampton’s Robbie Morris.

A more likely scenario though, would be for the coach to call up 30-year-old uncapped Bath tighthead Duncan Bell, who starred in England A’s victory against France A last week.

Bell travelled with England on their so-called ‘tour from hell’ in 1998 – the tourists lost all seven games in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – but he has improved greatly since then, and has an outstanding Premiership pedigree.

For 45 times-capped Vickery, today’s injury is the latest in a series of savage setbacks.

He made his first England start for almost 11 months when he lined up against France at Twickenham last weekend, having battled to overcome a serious back injury and then an eye-socket fracture.

But the 28-year-old was due to undergo surgery tonight, and he is not expected to play again until April.

“Phil has broken his radius, which is the large bone in his forearm,” said Gloucester rugby director Nigel Melville.

“He will go to hospital tonight and have a plate put in it. I don’t really know how it happened, but Phil will definitely be out of action for at least six weeks.

“I feel very sorry for him, as he has been in great shape. He really needed 80 minutes of rugby today and then this happened. Mentally, it must be very hard for him.”

Vickery’s experience will be sorely missed at Lansdowne Road, where England will be looking to avoid suffering a third successive defeat in this season’s championship.

And he now joins the likes of fellow World Cup winners Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall, Stuart Abbott and Richard Hill on the sidelines.

Despite Barkley’s three missed penalties in the 18-17 defeat against France, he is expected to retain his place at inside centre, although Leicester’s in-form prospect Ollie Smith would be an obvious replacement.

Bath coach John Connolly rates Barkley as no better than a 50/50 chance to make the Dublin trip.

And a Bath spokesman said: “At the moment, we believe Olly has tweaked his calf muscle, but he will be going for scans at a hospital in Bath tomorrow, which will give us a clearer picture.”

Paul was on the bench against France, so his injury is probably the least to concern Robinson, who finds himself under pressure on the back of England’s worst championship run since 1987.

The England players are due to meet at their Surrey training base tomorrow evening, but once again this season, an England Test week will start with injuries dominating the agenda.

Unbeaten Ireland, meanwhile, hope to have skipper Brian O’Driscoll back in their ranks after he missed the victory over Scotland last weekend because of a hamstring injury.