Stuart Lancaster has made four changes to England's Elite Player Squad for the autumn international series which begins on 2 November.
Centres Joel Tomkins, Henry Trinder and Luther Burrell have all been included in a 34-man squad by the England head coach following injuries to Leicester's Manu Tuilagi and Saracens' Brad Barritt.
There is one other change, among the forwards, where Exeter's Tom Johnson has been given the nod over his Northampton rival Calum Clark to take the step up into the elite squad from the Saxons. Johnson offers Lancaster cover for Tom Wood on the blindside flank with Tom Croft ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
Alex Corbisiero is included in the squad despite also picking up a knee problem that could rule him out of the start of the series, which begins against Australia on 2 November at Twickenham followed by games on successive weekends against Argentina and world champions New Zealand. Lancaster expects the prop, who has had fluid drained from the knee that has troubled him in recent seasons, and will not be able to put weight on it for another week, to be back in action in a few weeks.
"We have not ruled out Alex from any of next month's internationals," said Lancaster. "He has to put his knee up this week as part of his rehab. I hope he will come through and be available for some if not all of the matches. I am optimistic about his long-term prospects: with good management, we can see him through beyond 2015."
Lancaster will decide his captain when the squad gathers next week having refused to answer speculation that he would be replacing one back rower, Chris Robshaw, for another, Tom Wood. He said he was happy with the form of his players, but nearly half the squad, 16, are playing for clubs who were wither poor or fickle in the first five weeks of the season, including Robshaw's Harlequins.
The squad will assemble in Leeds next Monday after this weekend's Heineken Cup games for a pre-series camp.
Speaking at Lloyd's of London, Lancaster said: "We have been looking forward to this QBE Internationals series ever since we got back from Argentina. As a coaching group we have watched a lot of rugby and we are pleased with the form of the squad. The camp is an important part of our preparation and we are looking forward to meeting up.
"Inevitably there have been some injuries and there is still a big European weekend ahead. But injures always create opportunities and we are pleased to call up Tom Johnson, Joel Tomkins, Henry Trinder and Luther Burrell into the senior EPS, with Luther joining us as injury cover. We have three major Tests ahead of us and we are looking forward to the challenge."
England's EPS squad for the QBE autumn internationals
Forwards David Attwood (Bath), Dan Cole (Leicester), Alex Corbisiero (Northampton), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Geoff Parling (Leicester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath), Tom Wood (Northampton), Tom Youngs (Leicester )
Backs Chris Ashton (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Freddie Burns (Gloucester), Luther Burrell (Northampton), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Foden (Northampton), Alex Goode (Saracens), Henry Trinder (Gloucester), Joel Tomkins (Saracens), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Christian Wade (Wasps), Marland Yarde (London Irish), Ben Youngs (Leicester)
