Exeter and England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie will miss at least the start of the Six Nations with a "serious" ankle injury that is likely to need surgery.

Cowan-Dickie has not travelled with the Chiefs to South Africa for their Champions Cup match against the Bulls.

England begin their Six Nations campaign against Scotland at Twickenham on 4 February.

"Luke's injury looks relatively serious," Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

"He's seeing a surgeon today; that will maybe give us a more definitive outcome and timing."

Cowan-Dickie has been capped 41 times for England and is in his final few months with Exeter after signing for Top 14 side Montpellier next season.

Baxter suggested, however, that the forward could return before the end of the current campaign.

"It does look like an operation is going to be required but that said, at this stage, it wouldn't be a season-ending situation," Baxter said.

"We could still see him back for a good chunk of the season if rehab and everything goes well."

Scotland's Hogg also sidelined

Exeter full-back Stuart Hogg has also not travelled to Pretoria as he is still suffering from a heel problem.

The Scotland international has not played in Exeter's two most recent matches.

"He ran on Saturday morning, was doing a fitness test to see if there was a possibility of him coming here," Baxter said.

"But his heel injury was still too sore for him to run at any speed or at any distance so we had to call off Saturday."