England's Joe Marler is unlikely to face South Africa on Saturday after straining medial ligaments in his knee in the 20-14 defeat against Australia.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster confirmed Marler's injury, saying he is "unlikely to make the South Africa game".

The 22-year-old Harlequins loose-head prop had recovered from a tight hamstring to feature in the opening autumn international win against Fiji.

Continue reading the main story

"We need to make sure we get that accuracy and decision-making right"

Stuart Lancaster

Marler is expected to be replaced by London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero.

England face the Springboks on Saturday at Twickenham in the third autumn international.

Corbisiero, 24, will be looking to add to his 16 international caps after returning to the England set-up last week following a knee injury suffered on the summer tour.

The potential change at loose-head prop is one of a number Lancaster is considering with Tom Wood and Jonathan Joseph pushing for starts.

"We will potentially freshen things up with one or two changes," said Lancaster. "Joe Marler has a grade one MCL so it is likely he won't be available for Saturday. He'd be out of the equation I think. Alex Corbisiero would come back into the equation for him.

"The selection for South Africa will be based on a variety of things. First and foremost the challenge of South Africa, their physicality and the performances they have been putting in on this tour."

Geoff Parling, Tom Palmer, Manu Tuilagi, Charlie Sharples and Tom Youngs all sat out training on Monday with bumps and bruises but are expected to be fine for the weekend.

Lancaster also led a review session on Monday in which the key decisions not to kick penalties for goal against Australia were analysed.

Former England boss Sir Clive Woodward criticised Lancaster and his staff for not planning ahead and instructing players to take the points, while captain Chris Robshaw defended his choices by saying "hindsight is a wonderful thing".

"We talked about all the decisions made in the game. I will support the players in their decision because it is a real-time decision," said Lancaster.

"But we have to make sure we get those decisions correct. Did we get them all right? There are some that have been reviewed but I won't criticise the players for having a mindset to win the game.

"We need to make sure we get that accuracy and decision-making right."