ROME, Italy — England are optimistic Alex Mitchell will be fit for their Six Nations opener against Ireland, but amid a damaging injury report from the weekend’s rugby, head coach Steve Borthwick wants uncapped back-row Henry Pollock to bring his fierce competitiveness to the squad after he was called up on Tuesday.

Borthwick was in Rome on Tuesday for the men’s Six Nations launch and delivered a mixed injury update after a bruising weekend of European rugby. Last year’s captain Jamie George will definitely miss their trip to Ireland for their Championship opener on Feb. 1 with a hamstring injury, and Borthwick expects him to be out for around two to three weeks.

England are also waiting on further information around Alex Coles’ injury but hopes that could a “matter of weeks,” according to Borthwick, while Harlequins back-rower Alex Dombrandt has injured his calf and is out for around four weeks.

The prognosis on Jack van Poortvliet is a little uncertain but Borthwick said he hopes he will be sidelined for a maximum of four weeks, and the coaches are optimistic Mitchell will be fit to train next week after hurting his knee at the weekend.

“Alex clearly established himself as the first-choice No. 9 at the World Cup and through 2024, we really saw him grow as a Test player,” Borthwick said.

“You can see the effect Alex has on the Northampton team as well as the England team. We are very optimistic that he will be available next week and he’s been playing really well. He is clearly crucial to the way we want to play. We know that, in this championship, the breakdown is going to be hard-fought, so getting that ball away is going to be very, very important to us.”

Borthwick added on the injuries: “You always anticipate there’s going to be changes. You’ve got to adapt. That’s why you have your depth charts. We had a day in as a [wider] squad about 10 days ago and a good number of players were present who I hadn’t selected in the original Six Nations squad last week. People have to around what we’re trying to do.”

With those five injured, Borthwick has called up Gloucester’s Arthur Clark to cover Coles, Northampton’s Curtis Langdon for George, Sale’s Raffi Quirke for Van Poortvliet, Bath’s Ben Spencer for Mitchell and Northampton’s Pollock for Dombrandt.

Pollock has impressed for his club side this season and won World Rugby’s under-20 Championship last summer. “When you saw [Pollock] come on at the weekend, in a big European fixture [for Northampton], he played with fierce competitiveness. It is all about winning for him — finding a way to help his team win,” Borthwick said.

“This is a young man, with a huge competitiveness. That’s what we want in the England squad. He was close to making the original squad, but the back-row is hugely competitive for us. And I want the back-rowers to be able to compete, really compete. The level of the back-row in the Six Nations is unbelievable. They need to run, hit and link with attack and he does that. We have some good back-rowers who do that, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

England’s revised squad in full:

Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Joe Heyes (Leicester), Ted Hill (Bath), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Curtis Langdon (Northampton), George Martin (Leicester), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Henry Pollock (Northampton), Bevan Rodd (Sale), Will Stuart (Bath), Tom Willis (Saracens).

Backs: Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton), George Ford (Sale), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Harry Randall (Bristol), Tom Roebuck (Sale), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton), Fin Smith (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester).

Continuing rehabilitation in camp: Alex Mitchell (Northampton)

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