Surgery for Hill hits Saracens

Richard Hill will have surgery on his broken nose today and is in doubt for the start of England's Six Nations campaign in February.

The rugby World Cup star, who also needed 13 stitches over his eye, was hurt in an incident in the celebration game against the New Zealand Barbarians. All Black lock Troy Flavell has been cited as a result.

Hill will not play again for at least a month, and his club, Saracens - already languishing near the foot of the Zurich Premiership - do not expect him to be available until the first week of February.

England open their Six Nations campaign against Italy on 15 February, and there must be a question over whether Hill, whose presence was vital to England's victory Down Under, can be match-fit in time.

Hill said: "The nose fracture is still unstable. If I took another blow, it could make matters worse, so the specialist advised me to have surgery right away. I hope to be at the match tomorrow and then concentrate all my energy on getting fit as soon as possible."

His absence means bad news for Saracens head coach Rod Kafer, who is targeting tomorrow's clash with Leeds Tykes at Vicarage Road as the launch-pad to a better future for his struggling outfit.

Kafer was heartened by Saturday's display against leaders Bath, when only some erratic place-kicking from Thomas Castaignede prevented them from causing a major upset.

But now Kafer wants harder evidence that his team, second from bottom of the Premiership after being badly disrupted by injuries and World Cup calls during-the first half of the season, have turned a corner. He said: "Apart from the opening four weeks of the season, the 24-15 defeat to Bath represented our best performance to date. But the next step for us is to start beating these so-called better sides.