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Fin Smith revealed he was heartbroken watching his good friend Ollie Lawrence withdrawn with an injury that looks likely to cost the Bath centre a place on this summer's Lions tour.
Lawrence fell over while England were on the attack in the opening stages and sustained a freak Achilles injury that seems likely to rule him out of action for club and country for the remainder of this season.
Smith came through the ranks and starred at Worcester alongside Lawrence before the Warriors' liquidation in 2022 broke the pair apart.
The Northampton Saints fly-half says he was distraught at Lawrence's eighth minute casualty which he felt negatively impacted his own performance for a few minutes before he was able to pull himself back together and deliver a talismanic performance in England's commanding 47-24 victory over Italy.
Smith said: "You're playing an important game and want to win but there's a deeper level to it when you see one of your best mates potentially lose a chance to go on a Lions tour. It breaks your heart, it maybe rattled me for a few minutes and I made some mistakes off the back of it. We've get everything crossed for the scans but it's not looking brilliant.
"He's absolutely devastated. He's been a massive part of Bath pushing them forward and is a massive part of this England team. I don't think he's played below a 7 or a 8 for either his club or his country, so we have to get round him as teammates because it's going to be a tough couple of weeks."
Ben Earl, Tom Curry and Fraser Dingwall were also taken off injured but head coach Steve Borthwick offered an encouraging update on that trio ahead of next week's visit of Wales on Super Saturday.
"They all went off with cuts," said Borthwick.
"Fraser was cut so we had to get him stitched up and Tom is all good but needed to stretch his leg out which forced us into a change. They'll all be in contention on Saturday."