Peter Richards, who was on the verge of his best opportunity for a sustained run as England’s scrum half, will not play for three months after having an operation to repair the left biceps muscle torn during London Irish’s Heineken Cup win over Treviso at the weekend. He will miss the entire RBS Six Nations Championship.

“It’s incredibly sad for him and disappointing for us because he was playing at the top of his form,” Brian Ashton, the England head coach, said yesterday, emphasising how close Richards, who will be 30 in March, was to starting against Wales a week on Saturday. He has yet to appear in the Six Nations, despite having won 12 caps, of which six – all as a replacement – were in last year’s World Cup.

With Harry Ellis, of Leicester, and Shaun Perry, of Bristol, unavailable through injury, Andy Gomarsall and the uncapped Richard Wigglesworth are the only remaining scrum halves in the England squad, although Paul Hodgson, also of London Irish, trained with them on Monday. However, Hodgson was one of three scrum halves named yesterday in the England Saxons squad to play Ireland A at Leicester on February 1.

Ashton had better news of Simon Shaw and Paul Sackey, the London Wasps players. Shaw, who opened the scar tissue on an old ankle injury during the loss to Munster on Saturday, can walk without crutches and the lock may be available for England’s opening match. The same is true for Sackey after he contracted mumps. David Ward, the Wasps team doctor, has worked closely with the England medical team, the Health Protection Agency and Gloucester, who play Wasps on Saturday, to ensure that the risk of the infection spreading is minimal. Players and staff at Wasps have been offered immunisa-tion, as have Gloucester’s players.

Sackey can train within a couple of days of the symptoms subsiding and England are optimistic that he will join them on Sunday. All being well, Sackey is certain to play on one wing, with David Strettle and Lesley Vainikolo vying for the other position. Wales, however, are resigned to being without Dwayne Peel, their scrum half. After recovering from a damaged shoulder, Peel is running again but has yet to take contact.

“Next week will be incredibly phsyi-cal,” Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, said. “At No 9 against England, you expect to make a few tackles. Draw your own conclusions.”

Scotland will be without Simon Taylor against France because the back-row forward has a broken thumb in a splint, but Marco Bortolami, the Italy lock, does not require surgery after a double fracture of the eye socket playing for Gloucester last weekend and could play within four weeks.