Courtney Lawes ruled out of Six Nations with knee injury

Courtney Lawes will miss England's Six Nations campaign with a knee injury. The Northampton lock injured his knee playing against Leicester but had expected to be fit for England's opening match against Wales on 4 February. But it is now understood that the 21-year-old has damaged the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and will be out for at least three months. A club spokesman told Press Association Sport: "He's damaged a medial cruciate ligament and is expected to be out for around about three months. But we expect him to play before the end of the season." With Dave Attwood suspended, Louis Deacon and Simon Shaw are likely to compete for a place in the team alongside Tom Palmer, while England's manager Martin Johnson may consider handing a recall to the former captain, Steve Borthwick. Lawes, who made his debut for England 14 months ago, has since proved himself as an integral part of Johnson's plans. Johnson will hope for better news over Lawes's club team-mate Chris Ashton, who has a quad injury, but Tom Croft, the Leicester flanker, is nursing a fractured shoulder blade and is a major doubt.