Billy Vunipola the man to take over from Ben Morgan, says Dean Ryan

Worcester Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan has spoken to Sky Sports News HQ to give his thoughts on Ben Morgan's injury and who he thinks should replace the Gloucester No 8 in the England set-up.

Morgan is set to miss the Six Nations and is facing a lengthy lay-off after suffering a fracture to his lower left leg during Gloucester's victory over Saracens in the Aviva Premiership on Friday.

Saracens' Billy Vunipola, Exeter's Dave Ewers and the ever-present Nick Easter have all been mentioned as possible replacements for Morgan as England's No 8, with the cases of flankers James Haskell and Tom Wood also put forward.

Former England No 8 Dean Ryan says the most disappointing aspect of Morgan's injury is that it came at a time when he had just edged the battle for the England jersey.

Also, he's got brilliant old heads in Nick Easter and Tom Croft who are still reminding him that they're at the top of their form.

"It's a huge loss for England because Ben predominantly made a success of coming off the bench, but if you look at the autumn internationals he overtook Billy Vunipola," Ryan told Sky Sports News HQ.

"He was really England's real success story. He was able to get them real go-forward ball.

"In the latter stages of the autumn series he was a major ball-carrier, and they got so much success off the back of that."

Ryan, who coached the Barbarians at the end of last year, believes that only once the severity of Morgan's injury has been determined can Lancaster start to make a decision regarding his replacement.

"There is still some doubt about the extent of the injury, but in a World Cup year it is a real concern," he said.

"If he misses the Six Nations it is going to be difficult to get some form and his place back just from warm-up games.

"If the injury is as serious as some of the rumours are saying - potentially a fractured dislocation - it is right on the timeline of being back for that World Cup.

"It will make it very difficult to get him game time prior to naming a squad.

"If you are Stuart Lancaster this morning, you'd be pretty disappointed that one of your major players - one of your major successes of the autumn - is missing now. He will be looking around asking what contingencies have to be made in order to fill the void left by Ben."

Contention

Despite being impressed by Morgan's recent run for his country, Ryan is confident that the man Morgan replaced last year - Billy Vunipola - is still good enough for England, and is confident he is the logical choice.

Vunipola just needs to use this opportunity to find the form that escaped him during the autumn series, says Ryan.

"Billy needs to go well now, he needs to use this momentum. He's got a clear run at the Six Nations as the starting England No 8," he said.

"I don't think there is a huge amount of contention for that.

"He's got to get his form back. If you go back a year Billy really was the man that was coming up, but has dropped off. He hasn't found it as easy on the ball and he made a lot of errors early on."

When asked who else could be considered for the England No 8 jersey, Ryan said there are players that will give Lancaster plenty to consider, but none are ahead of Vunipola in the pecking order.

"Three isn't a ready-made person," Ryan said.

"Lancaster named Thomas Waldrom in the autumn to train with the squad. He's got some youngsters in the form of [Dave] Ewers and [Callum] Clark that are on the fringes.

"Also, he's got brilliant old heads in Nick Easter and Tom Croft who are still reminding him that they're at the top of their form.

"So there are a lot of things that need to be sorted out.

"At the same time Billy's going to get a clear run, let's see him get some form and that will at least mitigate the loss of Ben Moran."