England will be without Manu Tuilagi for at least the start of the autumn international series and as Stuart Lancaster’s squad gather at their Pennyhill Park training base on Sunday, they will discover whether his likely replacement at outside-centre, Luther Burrell, will also be missing. Burrell suffered an injury to his right hand during Northampton’s European Champions Cup win over Ospreys. His hand was bandaged at half-time but Burrell left the field within 90 seconds of the restart after complaining that he was unable to use the hand to grip. He was taken to hospital for an x-ray. “The hand is very sore and Luther is struggling to grip with it,” said Jim Mallinder, Northampton’s director of rugby. “He needs an x-ray to see whether he has broken a bone in his hand and I just hope he has not suffered any lasting damage.”

The Wasps captain and England flanker James Haskell has been discharged from hospital following a viral infection. A club statement said he will “continue to rest up at home this week before a gradual re-introduction to England training”.