Six Nations: England suffer Cowan-Dickie blow, Ireland lose Porter, Parisse turns down recall

England and Ireland have suffered injury blows ahead of their clash at Twickenham, with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Andrew Porter sidelined.

England have lost Luke Cowan-Dickie for the remainder of the Six Nations due to a knee injury and Ireland prop Andrew Porter will also play no further part in the tournament.

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter on Thursday confirmed Cowan-Dickie could be out for the rest of the season as he requires surgery.

The hooker did the damage in a 23-19 win over Wales at Twickenham last weekend and England forwards coach Richard Cockerill says his absence is a blow for the Red Rose in their quest to win the title.

Cockerill said: "We're disappointed for him, for Exeter and obviously ourselves. He's a really important player to the team and a leader to the group as well.

"So it's a bit of a blow to the team, but we've got cover and that's the game isn't it, players get injured, you have to deal with that and someone else gets an opportunity.

"Jamie [George] is a fantastic player; he's proven that for the last 10 years or so. He did a great job when he came on at the weekend and I'm sure he’s looking forward to doing that again."

Ireland will have to do without Porter when they travel Twickenham to face Eddie Jones' side a week on Saturday.

The prop sustained an ankle injury during the 57-6 round three rout of Italy, which left Ireland just a point behind leaders France in second place.

Ireland are hopeful centre Robbie Henshaw is passed fit to take on England after he suffered a head injury in the thrashing of the Azzurri.

Italy legend Sergio Parisse has revealed that he has turned down the chance of representing his country one final time during this year's Six Nations.

The most capped Italian international (142) was left out of the latest Italy squad for the remaining Six Nations matches against Scotland and Wales.

It was believed that Parisse would be called into the squad by Kieran Crowley once he recovered from his hand injury and got some game time under his belt.

However, Parisse has revealed that this is not the case and that he has turned down a call up to the Azzuri squad.

"I discussed it with the coach [Kieran Crowley] and the president of the Italian Federation," Parisse explained at a press conference.

"I was planning to play one more game with the Azzuri and I had not taken into account that we [Toulon] would have had three games late to play.

"I didn't expect us to be in this position in the standings. So there are several things that made me tell the Italian team that I preferred to stay here in Toulon."

Toulon current sit 12th on the overall standings in the Top 14 and have big games against La Rochelle and Montpellier coming up.

"Since I arrived in Toulon, I have always said that my priority was the club. So I decided to stay there because we have important matches to come against Montpellier and La Rochelle," he added.

"I want to stay in Toulon given our situation. I want to help the club get out of this situation. Otherwise yes, I could have been available for Italy. But in agreement with the Italian team, I informed them of my decision to stay in Toulon. There is disappointment on their part, me the first too. But in life you have to make choices and this is the most coherent choice."

Parisse's final match for Italy has been delayed multiple times, the first was due to the typhoon which cancelled the Rugby World Cup match between Italy and New Zealand. The pandemic denied him the opportunity to bid the fans farewell thereafter.