England hopeful over Tuilagi fitness ahead of New Zealand clash
England are "cautiously optimistic" that Manu Tuilagi will recover from his groin strain in time to face New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.
Tuilagi was withdrawn from the bench on the eve of the stirring 12-11 victory over South Africa after sustaining the injury during training at the squad's Portugal camp.
It is hoped the Leicester centre will take part in Monday evening's walk through and then resume full training on Tuesday.
Tuilagi was set to make his first international appearance since 2016 against the Springboks having recovered from serious groin, knee and hamstring injuries, only for his groin to tighten up.
"Manu is back and progressing well - we're cautiously optimistic he'll be available this week," England coach Eddie Jones said.
The outlook on Courtney Lawes' back injury is similar to Tuilagi with Jones hopeful he will be available for Saturday after being ruled out against South Africa.
Less promising, however, is the ankle problem that forced Tom Curry to depart in the second half and now makes him a significant doubt for the second Quilter International.
If the Sale openside fails to recover, Sam Underhill is likely to take his place in the back row.
"Tom Curry is off to see the doctor so we'll know more about him after that, but we're sadly pessimistic about his chances," Jones said.
England were on the ropes for the entire first half against South Africa, yet limited the interval deficit to 8-6 before gaining the ascendency in an end-to-end second period.
Owen Farrell kicked the winning penalty but the fly-half was mired in controversy in extra-time when producing a shoulder-led tackle on Andre Esterhuizen without wrapping an arm around the Springboks centre.
Australian referee Angus Gardner declined to award a penalty in a kickable position that, if successful, would have seized victory for the tourists in the final act of the game and Farrell subsequently escaped a citing for the challenge.
"As I've said quite consistently, I leave the TMO to make the decision," Jones said.
"They have that much time to make the decision so if they can't make the decision there is no use me making an opinion on it.
"We accept the good with the bad. Your headline writers all think it was bad so maybe you need to get new headline writers because everyone else in the world thought it was good."
Farrell was earlier clattered by a thunderous tackle from Esterhuizen, taking a bang to his hip, but Jones insisted "he should be all right" for New Zealand's visit to Twickenham.