Eddie Jones could lose Mike Brown for England’s autumn internationals after the Harlequins director of rugby, John Kingston, conceded he is in the dark over the extent of the full-back’s ankle injury.

Brown underwent a scan on the ankle on Wednesday after reaggravating the problem, first suffered 10 days ago, against Leicester on Saturday. Kingston confirmed Brown required a protective boot following Harlequins’ loss against the Tigers and that he will miss out at Northampton on Saturday.

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It is a potential headache for Jones, with Anthony Watson also among the eight players unable to take full part in England training in Oxford on Monday due to the knee injury that forced him out of Bath’s defeat by Newcastle.

“We have got a scan being on done on him having realised he is not quite right,” Kingston said. “He has been away with England for two or three days and they have done some treatment on it. He is not fit to play this weekend. It’s clearly something that’s not quite right and therefore, after he’s reaggravated it, it’s better to leave it a bit and give it some more time.”

Brown is 32, and while he has started all but one of England’s matches under Jones, the Australian has for a while hinted at giving Watson or Elliot Daly a run at full-back. But Kingston added: “Mike Brown is the first-choice full-back for England in my book and people will always say ‘who are the competitors?’ – that is the nature of the business. He wants to play well for England, he wants to be involved in the World Cup – and there’s no reason he can’t be. It would be a big mistake to write him off.”

Joe Marler (ribs) and Dylan Hartley, who has a hand injury, were also part of the eight unable to train fully during England’s three-day camp in Oxford, though the outlook for both is brighter. The England captainadded his voice to that of Brown, Marler, Ben Youngs and Billy Vunipola in expressing histhe concerns about Premiership Rugby’s plans for a 10-month season – 11 for international players – but said it had not been discussed in Oxford.

Asked if there is a need for players to formulate a collective response, he said: “I think we need to do that. I can’t obviously speak for every player, but the general feeling is that an extended season is not welcome. This is not just about England players, this is about all the players in the Premiership. It’s not on me, as England captain, to make a call on this or lead things.

“I don’t know much about it, but I know my voice will carry so I need to educate myself on the issue, but I don’t know where to get the information from. I have a responsibility as a player to voice my opinion but are there formal talks? I don’t know what’s going on with it.

“ There has been talk about rotation and bigger squads, so maybe we would end up playing less games. Until I’ve seen the structure and how they propose to do it, I can’t comment any further. But initially I think if they are talking about playing more games then player welfare is going to go on the back-burner.”

England Women’s autumn fixtures have been confirmed, with three games against Canada in November. The first game will be at Allianz Park on Friday 17November, the second at The Stoop on Tuesday 21 November and the third at Twickenham on Saturday 25 November , with free entry after the men’s game against Samoa.