Northampton Saints prop Alex Corbisiero and Leicester Tigers lock Geoff Parling have been rulled out of England's internationals next month because of injury.
Corbisiero suffered a shoulder ligament tear during Northampton's win over Bath on Saturday and is not expected to return until early 2015 while Parling will be out until December following a series of concussions.
The news is a new blow to England's tight five as Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole and Tom Youngs are already sidelined by injuries.
Stuart Lancaster's side will play four Test matches during November, against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia.
“Geoff saw the relevant specialist this week and will have time out of the game now,” said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill. “He'll probably have three or four weeks of complete down time and then he'll be reintegrated into training.
“You'd like to think that by December he'll be playing again. And there's no doubt about that, he will play again. There are no issues over that.”
