Gregor Townsend does not expect Darcy Graham to feature for Scotland during this Six Nations after the winger’s latest injury setback.

Graham missed the first two games of the championship with a thigh injury picked up playing for Edinburgh against Gloucester in early January.

He returned to training with Sean Everitt’s side last week with a view to having some involvement against Zebre at the weekend, only to suffer a groin injury in training.

Townsend now believes that will keep Graham out of the remainder of the Six Nations.

READ MORE: Gregor Townsend calls for 'Dupont Law' change after Scotland vs France

He said: “He trained Monday – he was flying – and then on Wednesday he was flying again but then his groin on the other side got injured.

“He’s still speaking to the specialist, but I don’t believe he’ll be back for the end of the championship.”

Townsend wasn’t able to provide any more detail around the severity of the injury but hopes the winger is back from his latest injury soon.

“Hopefully he won’t be out for long with Edinburgh but it’s a blow.

“He did everything to get back available for this game through his quad injury, but it is a new injury.”

Graham missed the start of the season with a hip problem suffered in the Rugby World Cup defeat to Ireland. During that lay-off, he had surgery to remove a pin in his knee that had been causing discomfort for the best part of a year.

Townsend did not know whether Graham may require further surgery on the groin problem.

The Scotland coach added: “Those discussions are still being had with the specialists, and whether it requires surgery or a period of rehab, but it has been a frustrating time for Darcy since the World Cup.”

He also acknowledged it has been a frustrating time for the 26-year-old Hawick man, who was one of Europe’s in-form wingers this time last year before another injury saw him miss last year’s championship.

Townsend added: “He's missed the Six Nations, come back for the World Cup, and the injury from the World Cup has kept him out a lot of Edinburgh games.

“As we say to every player, there’s a lot of rugby left. While the Six Nations is a huge tournament, there is a lot of games for Edinburgh left to play and there’s the summer tour. So, let’s hope he gets involved in both of those.”

Scotland team to face England: B Kinghorn, K Steyn, H Jones, S Tiupulotu, D Van der Merwe, F Russell, B White, P Schoeman, G Turner, Z Fagerson, G Gilchrist, S Cummings, J Ritchie, R Darge, J Dempsey

Replacements: E Ashman, A Hepburn, E Millar-Mills, S Skinner, A Christie, G Horne, B Healy, C Redpath