Dan Cole and Mako Vunipola are set to miss England‘s Autumn Tests having not yet recovered from injury.
Cole has been sidelined since the Six Nations where he suffered a neck injury while Vunipola sustained a knee injury during the Heineken Cup final with Saracens.
Leicester tighthead Cole has since has surgery to replace a disc in his neck and his just returning to training but Richard Cockerill said he will play again only if he is 100 per cent fit.
“That gives him a timescale of 12 weeks to be back playing which is mid-November but we will give him as much time as he needs,” said Cockerill.
“The disc was replaced. It is a metal disc, with a plate and a ball-and-socket joint inside. Dan needs the bone to graft around that. The disc will be stronger than the one he had there in the first place.
“He has not been able to do anything at all post-surgery for three months. Now he can do some running, some light weights, and gradually build himself back up. Stuart Lancaster has been very sensible about it. We will manage Dan as the medics see fit. What is important is that everything is done right and he is good to go, rather than have him come back early and have issues with it.”
Saracens boss Mark McCall said: “Mako has an injury from the European final. He’ll be out for a while – until November possibly. But he has no chance for the autumn internationals.”
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