But Howard already knows that he will be without prop Martin Castrogiovanni, who is with the Italy squad preparing in L'Aquila for their World Cup qualifier against Portugal this weekend.
There are also some extra injury concerns after last week's win over Newport Gwent Dragons which set the ball rolling on the EDF Energy Cup campaign.
"Jordan Crane broke his nose against the Dragons," said Howard. "Jim Hamilton suffered a broken finger and Daryl Gibson picked up a slight calf injury."
"There are a few niggles and knocks but we will continue to have a look at them and see how they settle, but hopefully they will all be okay. Once we've had confirmation of the injury situation and when we hear from the England guys, we'll make a final decision on the team. In general though, I think it will be a similar 22 to last Saturday."
Tom Croft (ankle) and Seru Rabeni (knee) remain on the long-term injured list, but Samoan back rower Henry Tuilagi is improving after suffering a hamstring problem in the game at Bath on the second weekend of the season. Howard revealed that he could be in contention for selection against Northampton in the Guinness Premiership next weekend.
