Alex Mitchell a doubt for England Tests after being ruled out of run-in

Alex Mitchell will miss the end of Northampton Saints’ season having suffered a hamstring injury in England training last week.

The Times understands that the Sale Sharks flanker Tom Curry also felt symptoms of a concussion, so will be monitored back at his club.

It is so far unclear whether the damage the Northampton scrum half Mitchell, 29, has done will rule him out of England’s Nations Championship Tests in July. England face South Africa on July 4, then Fiji and Argentina on the following Saturdays, so Mitchell has a month or so to recover.

However, it is understood that while the injury isn’t catastrophic, it will keep him out for the rest of the domestic season, which is a huge blow to Northampton’s Gallagher Prem title chances. The Saints, who are top of the Prem attempting to win a second league title in three years, will now have to rely on two inexperienced No9s for the rest of their campaign.

Archie McParland, 21, has been the find of their season and was included in the senior England squad last week. He has started several games ahead of Mitchell this year, but is still very green, having played just 32 Prem matches in his Saints career so far. His back-up now is likely to be the 20-year-old Jonny Weimann, as Tom James, 32, is recovering from his own hamstring injury.

Mitchell’s fresh injury occurred during England training last week. The England head coach, Steve Borthwick, gathered 42 players for a three-day camp last Monday to Wednesday, with two days of normal training. Mitchell pulled his hamstring in a team session, and after another Curry felt symptoms of a head injury.

This is Mitchell’s second hamstring injury of the season. He had a heavy workload in 2024-25 when he ended the year appearing in every single British & Irish Lions match-day squad on their tour of Australia. Mitchell did not appear off the bench in the second Test against the Wallabies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which the Lions won 29-26, but he played minutes in all nine of the other matches on the trip. That meant he played 31 matches last year, more than the recommended season limit for Prem players of 30.

This season Mitchell has played in 22 games for club and country, but missed a chunk of time owing to his first hamstring issue of the season in February.

He suffered that injury in the 42-21 Six Nations loss to Ireland, lasting only 25 minutes at Twickenham. That meant he missed the defeats to Italy and France, and he was out for six weeks of matches, returning for the Champions Cup quarter-final that the Saints lost 43-41 to Bath.

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