WASPS forward James Haskell hopes to play for England next Saturday despite being hospitalised with suspected meningitis.

The Wasps skipper said he'd never felt so ill in his life during a week-long stay in hospital, after doctors worried he had all the symptoms of meningitis.

Tests later showed he didn't have the condition but the Wasps doctor was so concerned over Haskell's health he was put in an ambulance and taken to Charing Cross Hospital.

The 29-year-old flanker said: "I have never felt so ill in my life. My neck started to ache, I just felt terrible.

"On Friday I couldn’t get out of bed and felt horrible and I just got worse every day. I lost about five kilos in a week. It wasn’t vomiting or diarrhoea, it was just fever and not eating.

"I couldn’t open my eyes because they were too sensitive to light. My lower back and my neck were very, very stiff, so I couldn’t really move out of bed at all.

"I spent hours lying in bed with a cold flannel on my head, in a dark room, on a drip, not eating or drinking. Man down, really. My temperature was up to 38 degrees.

"They couldn’t work it out, but they just thought I had a terrible virus and all the symptoms of viral meningitis, with a bad migraine and all the other symptoms that went with it."

Haskell missed both of his club side's opening two Champions Cup ties due to the bug and wasn't able to take part in England training until yesterday, ahead of the first autumn international against New Zealand at Twickenham next Saturday.

He added: "I would be extremely disappointed if my illness was a factor in whether I am involved or not."