sport

Flood ruled out of NZ showdown

Toby Flood has been ruled out of England's QBE autumn international against New Zealand with a toe injury.

The Leicester fly-half suffered ligament damage in the big toe of his right foot during England's 16-15 defeat to South Africa.

Owen Farrell, who came off the bench on Saturday, is set to take over at fly-half against the All Blacks, with the uncapped Freddie Burns likely to be named on the bench when head coach Stuart Lancaster confirms his 23-man squad on Thursday.

Lancaster said: "Toby won't be fit for the weekend so Freddie Burns has come in and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out he will play some part in the squad.

"Toby's injury isn't as bad as first feared but it will definitely keep him out of this weekend."

Lancaster is optimistic Alex Corbisiero will be fit to face the All Blacks, although the loosehead prop will not train until Thursday.

Corbisiero was impressive on his international comeback against South Africa, but it was only his third game in five months after recovering from a knee injury and the England medics are being cautious.

Update:

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