England have been dealt another injury worry with the news that lock Steve Borthwick will miss Bath's Guinness Premiership clash with Wasps tomorrow with a knee injury.

Borthwick, who captained England in the absence of the ill Phil Vickery sustained the injury during the narrow RBS Six Nations victory over Italy in Rome last weekend.

Steve Meehan, Bath’s coach, said, "I will not play him against Wasps unless he is 100 per cent fit and am sure he would be able to last the whole match.

"He took a knock against Italy and had a scan on his return. He is going through things with the medical team and the physiotherapists and we should know more later in the week.

"Steve is experienced and honest enough to say if he is not right. I do not believe in playing someone if he is carrying an injury, never mind that Saturday is an important game for us."

England face France, favourites to win the tournament, in Paris a week tomorrow and England’s coaching staff will observe his fitness closely in the run-up to that match.

Ashton, the England coach, is already without Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Lewis Moody, Andrew Sheridan and Tom Rees and losing another experienced member of his squad would mean a real headache.

Bath, meanwhile, will replace Borthwick in the second row against Wasps with Peter Short, while Alex Short will take over the captaincy. Borthwick’s England colleagues, Lee Mears, Matt Stevens and Michael Lipman, all feature in the Bath starting line-up.