Sheridan out of VI Nations

England Loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan has been ruled out for the remainder of the VI Nations with a calf injury, BBC Sport reports. He sustained the injury 20 minutes into last Saturday's 17-8 victory over France at Twickenham. In all likelihood his place in the starting line-up will be taken by Alex Corbisiero, the young London Irish prop who showed such promise in his debut against Italy, and coped well when he came on against France.

Corbisiero may be less of a physical monster than Sheridan, but his scrummaging is very solid, and his ball carrying in the loose excellent. He's already done well against the two strongest scrums of the VI Nations, so IMO this shouldn't be too big a problem. In fact it's a good opportunity for Corbisiero to get a few more caps under his belt, thus earning valuable experience.

I suspect with Wilson currently also struggling with injury, the bench spot will be taken by Paul Doran-Jones, whom I must confess to not knowing much about. Another option would be the young prop Marler at Northampton, but it is unlikely Johnson will go that route IMO.

What do you think? Is the absence of Sheridan a blow to England's Grand Slam hopes?

I am never happy when a player get injured but opportunity truly does knock for Corbisiero here. If he proves himself in the next couple of games he could play his way onto the plane to NZ.

I do not believe that it will affect the England scrum that much , as you have pointed it out, he was rock solid against Italy and France I also believe that Corbs is better in the loose than Sheridan who has a tendency to go missing. It has been the big criticism of Sheridan throughout his career that he hasn't justified his obvious physical strength in this area.