Eddie Jones tells Manu Tuilagi to sit out Six Nations and concentrate on Leicester

England head coach Eddie Jones has resisted the temptation to fast-track centre Manu Tuilagi straight into the Six Nations as he announces his squad on Thursday for the opening match against Italy. 

The list of absentees for the game in Rome on February 4 grew on Wednesday as Wasps flanker James Haskell was banned or four weeks for a dangerous tackle on Jamie Roberts. Jones had already lost wing Elliot Daly, No 8s Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes, and props Ellis Genge and Matt Mullan to injury, while Harlequins prop Joe Marler will miss the fixtures against Italy and Wales through suspension.

There is also a doubt over full-back Mike Brown who left the field with blurred vision during Harlequins’ Champions Cup victory against Wasps, but wing Jack Nowell is expected to recover from an ankle injury. There remains no space in Jones’ plan for Nowell’s Exeter teammate Don Armand, the in-form back row in the Premiership.

Saracens, meanwhile, have confirmed that Billy Vunipola will be out for between "six and 10 weeks" but will not require surgery for the broken arm he suffered during the 15-15 draw against Ospreys.

If many of those absences are enforced, Jones has voluntarily allowed Tuilagi to build up his fitness and form at Leicester Tigers. Long an object of fascination for Jones off the back of his barnstorming performance against New Zealand in 2012, the 26 year-old is just four games into the eighth comeback of a truncated career. His last start for England came in 2014.

Even without Vunipola and Hughes, his primary ball-carriers, Jones has told Leicester head coach Matt O’Connor that he will not be selecting Tuilagi for the opening rounds of the Six Nations. 

“I think Eddie is quite keen to see how he goes in that Premiership block of games in February and he’s quite keen for him to get some quality game minutes with us before he looks at including at him,” O’Connor told The Daily Telegraph. “I think Eddie is smart enough to know that every time Manu plays for us, he has the potential to get better and that probably puts him closer to the potential of playing for England again.

“He looks better and better every time he trains and plays. From that perspective he just needs to get a block of games under his belt in our environment, where the training is similar and the dynamic of what we are doing is very similar, before he gets into a much higher intensity in the England camp and Test match rugby.”

England’s main problem positions are at No 8 and loosehead prop where there is little back-up to Mako Vunipola. Bath’s Ben Obano was part of the latest training camp in Brighton while it is understood Jones is keeping close tabs on Harlequins youngster Lewis Boyce. 

The other main area of interest is at scrum-half. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend predicted on Tuesday that Gloucester’s Ben Vellacott, who played age-grade rugby for Scotland, will be selected by England. However, Jones may still stick by his policy of just selecting two scrum-halves in Ben Youngs and Danny Care. 

Meanwhile, the vagaries of rugby’s disciplinary process have been exposed as Haskell’s four-week ban contrasted with the three-week suspension administered to Mathieu Bastareaud for using homophobic language. Bastareaud was cited after appearing to call Sebastian Negri a “f------ faggot” during Toulon's 36-0 victory against Bennetton Treviso. 

Haskell’s ban was reduced from six weeks for his good record and expression of remorse. The 32 year-old will also miss England’s Six Nations match against Wales on February 10.