Lewis blow could see Steffon on the flanks

Steffon Armitage, the London Irish flanker, could be added to the England Elite Player squad after Lewis Moody broke his ankle in training.

Armitage was close to making the 32-strong squad named by team manager Martin Johnson earlier this month but was left in the Saxons as Moody had recovered from injury to return to the elite group. Armitage is battling with Bath's Michael Lipman for the vacancy created by Moody's latest blow.

The Leicester star, whose career has been dogged by serious injury, has been ruled out of the entire Six Nations championship, which starts against Italy on 7 February at Twickenham. England head to Portugal for training this week and Armitage is due to be involved in the Irish European Challenge Cup match with Rovigo tomorrow.