London - England's stuttering Rugby World Cup campaign suffered another blow on Monday when influential forward Billy Vunipola was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a knee injury.
Nick Easter, not selected in Stuart Lancaster's 31-man squad, has been called up as his replacement and the 37-year-old will be cover for Ben Morgan in Saturday's must-win Pool A clash against Australia.
The strong-running and hard-hitting Vunipola suffered a knee ligament strain in the dramatic 28-25 defeat by Wales at Twickenham.
Vunipola, who came off the bench to score a late try to secure a bonus point in the opening win over Fiji, had started against Wales after a knee injury ruled out Morgan.
“It's so unfortunate for Billy, but the scan shows an injury which means he can't take any further part in the World Cup,” head coach Lancaster said.
“He has worked really hard and committed everything to the last three months, but he is a young man with a bright future ahead of him and I know he will be an integral part of this team for years to come.”
Easter, capped 52 times, made his first England appearance since 2011 when he came off the bench against Wales in the Six Nations Championship clash in Cardiff in February.
“Nick was unlucky to miss out on final selection,” Lancaster said. “He is a specialist number eight and an experienced player. We know he will make a big contribution.”
Morgan, who had only just returned to the fold after recovering from a broken leg, is back in training and is “fine to go”, assistant coach Andy Farrell told reporters.
But England still have injury worries over scrumhalf Ben Youngs, centre Jonathan Joseph and lock Courtney Lawes.
“Courtney has not trained today and won't train tomorrow. We should know where he is on Wednesday morning. Joseph is making good strides. We will train twice tomorrow and he is expected to do both,” Farrell said.
“Ben Youngs is not ready to train tomorrow but we will know more on Wednesday.” – Reuters