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QBE Internationals: England refuse to rule out Manu Tuilagi despite groin injury

Leicester Tigers Manu Tuilagi
Image: Leicester Tigers' Manu Tuilagi: Not ruled out of autumn internationals yet

England are refusing to rule Manu Tuilagi out of next month's autumn internationals despite Leicester insisting his groin injury will prevent him playing any role.

On Tuesday Tigers director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, said Tuilagi would be highly unlikely to be involved in any of the Tests against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia after limping off against Ulster on Saturday.

The 23-year-old centre was omitted from the 33-man squad for the QBE Series picked by head coach Stuart Lancaster - but intriguingly, his name was also missing from the list of injured players not considered for selection.

Lancaster named five centres in his squad – Brad Barritt, Kyle Eastmond, Billy Twlevetrees, Luther Burrell and Jonathan Joseph. He admitted Tuilagi would not recover in time for the first two matches, but has not yet given up hope the midfield powerhouse could feature at some point. 

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England's QBE Internationals are live only on Sky Sports.

Lancaster said: "The reason we brought Jonathan Joseph into the camp is that Manu won't be fit for the start of the series, but we have not shut the door.

"It could take six weeks but we'll never say never. It's a joint management programme between us and Leicester and between us we have to get it right.

"The most important person in all of this is Manu and we have to make sure we get his rehabilitation right and get him some game time.

"There's no definitive timeline. It's not that sort of injury."

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Lancaster announces squad

Lancaster dropped a hint that Kyle Eastmond and Brad Barritt will be paired against New Zealand.

"I wouldn't say the centres are an area of concern," Lancaster said.

"Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond have both been outstanding and you have Luther Burrell and Billy Twelvetrees there as well. There's plenty of competition.

"Then there is Jonathan Joseph who is perhaps the form centre of all of them. It's about balance - you want a balance of pace, power and footballing ability.

"We will see them head to head (in training) and we will make our decisions on the combinations."

Watch the QBE Internationals live on Sky Sports throughout November.

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