England prop Alex Corbisiero has been ruled out of his side’s opening November Test against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.
Corbisiero twisted his left knee playing for club side Northampton just over a fortnight ago and won’t be fit to face the Wallabies.
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However, he is expected to be available for England’s subsequent Twickenham international against Argentina on November 9.
“Alex won’t be available for Australia but he’s looking good for the following weekend,” coach Stuart Lancaster said.
“We need to make sure we managed his return to play and recovery over the next four or five days,” he added, stressing Corbisiero’s injury was not related to his previous knee problems.
“The injury is a bang he took in the Castres game, it could happen to anyone.”
Meanwhile Lancaster said he was confident hooker Dylan Hartley and prop David Wilson will be available for selection when the England team to play the Wallabies is announced on Thursday.
Hartley and Wilson are suffering from ankle and calf injuries respectively, meaning Rob Webber and Henry Thomas were added to the squad as injury cover on Sunday.
“Dylan and David are making good progress and I’m pretty optimistic that both will be available to train fully, definitely by Thursday,” Lancaster said.
“Dylan can throw in the line-outs, we just don’t want to risk him in the live session tomorrow. They’ve both played a lot of rugby this season.”
Australia have lost seven of their 10 matches this year, but won 20-14 at Twickenham last November.
“The Wallabies are improving massively in their quality of performances,” said Lancaster. “I saw them play Argentina and New Zealand and they were right up there.
“We know we face a massive threat against them. They’re a good side with quality players. We won’t be taking them for granted – we lost to them last year.”
Corbisiero missed last season’s Six Nations with a tight knee problem but returned for England’s June tour of Argentina and was subsequently called up the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia where he scored the combined side’s opening try in their decisive third Test win in Sydney that saw them to a 2-1 series triumph.