Stuart Lancaster has been rocked by the news that prop Alex Corbisiero could miss England's upcoming Autumn Internationals.
The Northampton Saints man is thought to have picked up a recurrence of a recent knee problem that has troubled him for the last two seasons during their 19-13 Heineken Cup defeat to Castres at the weekend.
Lancaster, who names his squad for the internationals on Wednesday, could be forced to deal without Corbisiero for the next three to four weeks, according to The Times, meaning that he would miss at least two of the fixtures - Australia and Argentina.
However, the 25-year-old is still expected to be listed in the party to carry out his recovery with the England medical team, and has a chance of facing New Zealand on November 16 at Twickenham.
The Red Rose are already without centres Manu Tuilagi and Brad Barritt as well as back-row forward Tom Croft.
