England back row Jack Clifford out of autumn campaign
Friday 23 September 2016 15:26, UK
Harlequins back row Jack Clifford will miss England's autumn campaign as he requires ankle surgery that will rule him out for around 10 weeks.
Clifford, a replacement throughout England's Grand Slam campaign earlier this year, suffered the injury during Quins' 36-25 Aviva Premiership defeat at Exeter last weekend and will not return to action until early December.
"It's very disappointing and unfortunate that Jack has sustained his ankle injury," said Quins director of rugby John Kingston.
"Jack is a fierce competitor and I have no doubt he will work exceptionally hard to get himself back on the field as quickly as possible."
Clifford has been involved in all but one of England's nine matches under head coach Eddie Jones, although only one of his eight caps have been as a starter, in the 27-13 victory over Wales in May.
The prospect of promotion from replacement No 8 or flanker to the starting line-up had improved after James Haskell's foot injury created a vacancy at openside for the Tests against South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia.
That left Clifford competing with Northampton's Teimana Harrison for the No 7 jersey in Haskell's absence, but the need for surgery means Clifford will have to wait longer to press his claim for a starting berth.
