Manu Tuilagi’s long-awaited England comeback has been put on ice after the centre was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s Test against South Africa.
Tuilagi sustained a groin injury in training on Thursday and it was announced on Friday that he had been replaced by Sale wing Chris Ashton on the replacements bench.
However, the Red Rose’s medical staff were confident he would be available for the following weekend’s clash with New Zealand.
“Manu picked up a very minor strain to his groin yesterday (Thursday) during training,” England scrum coach Neal Hatley told Sport 24 at Twickenham on Friday.
“We are expecting him to be right for New Zealand week.
“If tomorrow was a World Cup final then we probably would have kept him in.”