Sunday 6 December 2015 09:20, UK
England prop Alex Corbisiero faces a race against time to prove his fitness for next year’s Six Nations after being told he requires knee surgery.
Northampton Saints coach Jim Mallinder said the operation is "nothing major", but it is likely to keep Corbisiero out of action until the New Year.
The 27-year-old has not featured for the Saints this campaign and has played just once since the end of the last season, England's pre-World Cup match against France when he sustained a back injury.
Corbisiero will undergo surgery on Tuesday and is now a doubt for England's Six Nations campaign which begins against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 6.
"Six Nations is a very long way off for him, I think his focus is on getting himself fit and back in the Northampton squad," Mallinder said.
"We have to keep positive with him, you don't chuck injured lads over the boat, you do whatever you can to get them fit as quickly as possible."
Corbisiero has been dogged by knee injuries throughout his career and started just seven Tests during Stuart Lancaster's four years in charge of England.
"It's an operation which is just a bit of a clean out, nothing major, he just has a bit of a niggle," Mallinder added.
"It's not good for him, he is being positive and we are being positive. The surgeon is pretty positive he can sort him out, so he will go under the knife and hopefully he'll be back sooner rather than later."
