England waiting on Clark fitness

Calum Clark is a doubt for England's tour of Uruguay and Argentina after an ankle injury ruled him out of Saturday's Aviva Premiership final.

Clark limped out of Northampton's semi-final win against Saracens and he has failed to recover in time for the Saints' Twickenham showdown with Leicester. The 23-year-old will be assessed by the England medics on Sunday and a decision made as to whether he will once again have to be ruled out of national duty.

Clark was ruled out of England's 2012 summer tour of South Africa and the autumn internationals that followed after receiving a record 32-week ban for breaking the arm of Leicester hooker Rob Hawkins.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster stood by Clark and he was recalled for the Six Nations, only to suffer a shoulder injury in January that sidelined him for the whole tournament.

Clark was selected again for England's three-match tour, which starts against a combined South American XV in Montevideo a week on Sunday before two Tests against Argentina.

Phil Dowson will start at blindside flanker for Northampton on Saturday afternoon as the Saints go in search of their first Premiership title.

Saints props Soane Tonga'uhia and Brian Mujati will play their final game for the club before moving to Racing Metro but there is little room for sentiment in the Leicester line-up.

The retiring full-back Georden Murphy does not warrant a place in the squad and Martin Castrogiovanni has had to content himself with a place on the bench.

Leicester are in their ninth consecutive Premiership final but they have won only three of the previous eight, including back-to-back defeats to Saracens in 2011 and Harlequins a year ago.