Charlie Hodgson has become the latest victim of unbeaten England's RBS 6 Nations Championship injury jinx.

The Sale Sharks fly-half is battling to play again this season, and if worst initial fears are confirmed then he could even miss summer Test match appointments with Australia and New Zealand down under.

The early Rugby Football Union medical bulletin on Hodgson was that he had suffered a "suspected significant ligament injury to his left knee".

An MRI scan was expected to be carried out on Monday, with Hodgson due to see a knee specialist during the next 36 hours.

He was on the field for just six minutes of England's 40-5 victory over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday, having replaced captain Jonny Wilkinson who departed nursing a minor shoulder problem.

"I think it is quite serious - it is not looking too good," was England boss Clive Woodward's immediate post-match assessment of the Hodgson setback.

The 22-year-old joins a long England casualty list - one that denied Woodward such influential players as Martin Johnson, Jason Robinson, Ben Cohen, Neil Back, Lewis Moody and Phil Vickery for the Italian clash.

Some of those absent stars should be available for England's next game, against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday week, but the Six Nations campaign continues to be riddled by injury troubles.

Wilkinson expects to be fit for Newcastle's Zurich Premiership clash against Leicester next Sunday - while flanker Richard Hill, who suffered a groin injury, is also not considered a major concern.

But if England are to launch a full-blown tilt at an overdue Grand Slam against Ireland in Dublin later this month then they will clearly require their key personnel to be available and firing on all cylinders.

Italy, 33-0 adrift after just 21 minutes, proceeded to dominate England for the best part of an hour - underlining exactly how great a toll those injuries have taken and how much the Azzurri have improved with new coach John Kirwan in charge.