England will depart for their tour to New Zealand tonight without the Leicester centre Dan Hipkiss and the Wasps winger Paul Sackey, who have both been ruled out by injuries. Hipkiss, who was called into the squad last month to replace the injured Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani, suffered a fractured cheekbone during Leicester's Premiership final defeat on Saturday and is replaced by uncapped Wasps centre Dominic Waldouck. Leicester's Tom Varndell takes over from Sackey, who will begin rehabilitation on a long-term knee complaint rather than make the trip to Auckland.

"On behalf of the squad, I would like to wish Paul and Dan speedy recoveries from their injuries," said the acting England manager, Rob Andrew. "Both Dominic and Tom are excellent players, and I look forward to working with them over the next three weeks."

But there was good news today for the England management, with Charlie Hodgson and Toby Flood passed fit after sustaining facial injuries during the narrow win over the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday.