Alex Mitchell ruled out of England squad with George Ford a doubt for autumn

England have suffered an injury blow with first-choice scrum half Alex Mitchell set to miss their autumn Tests.

The Northampton Saints nine is yet to play this season due to a neck injury and has been left out of Steve Borthwick’s squad for November.

Fly half George Ford is also seemingly a doubt for the opener against New Zealand at least, with the Sale Sharks fly half listed as rehabilitating and not named in a 36-man group. The playmaker suffered a tear in his quad while playing in the Premiership, though Borthwick indicated he was progressing well.

Henry Slade is fit to return, though, after undergoing shoulder surgery in the summer, and will travel with the squad to Girona in Spain for a training camp next week.

Fellow centre Alex Lozowski could press for a first cap since 2018 after earning inclusion, particularly with Fraser Dingwall currently unavailable due to a knee injury aggravated in camp last week.

“We’re assessing and given the nature of the neck injury we’re ensuring we do everything absolutely right by Alex,” Borthwick explained of Mitchell’s progress. “I don’t want to be ruling players in or out in that circumstances but it’s clearly very, very tight.

“The good thing is that we’ve got plenty of very good nines in this country. Alex is outstanding and has established himself as the starting nine in the England shirt. We’re disappointed that right now he’s not available and we wish him as quick a recovery as possible.”

Of Ford, Borthwick added: “He’s doing really well. I spoke to him a couple of days ago, he’s done plenty of running, he’s done goal-kicking already and he’ll continue his rehab with us next week. It’s been no surprise that with George’s attitude, he’s doing as well as he is.”

There is no place in the squad for domestic standouts Tom Willis or Gabriel Ibitoye, but Sale back row Tom Curry is included alongside twin brother Ben despite injury concerns.

In Mitchell’s absence, Ben Spencer, Harry Randall and Jack van Poortvliet look set to vie for the starting scrum-half shirt, while Marcus Smith and Fin Smith are the specialist tens named in Ford’s absence.

England take on the All Blacks on 2 November in their opening game before further Tests against Australia, South Africa and Japan.

England’s 36-player squad:

Forwards

Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 2 caps)

Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 115 caps)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 41 caps)

Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 7 caps)

Ben Curry (Sale Sharks, 5 caps)

Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 53 caps)

Theo Dan (Saracens, 14 caps)

Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)

Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 17 caps)

Ben Earl (Saracens, 33 caps)

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 31 caps)

Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 62 caps)

Jamie George (Saracens, 93 caps)

Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 11 caps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens, 84 caps)

Joe Marler (Harlequins, 95 caps)

George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 15 caps)

Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 41 caps)

Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)

Backs

Elliot Daly (Saracens, 69 caps)

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs, 6 caps)

Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)

George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)

Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 27 caps)

Alex Lozowski (Saracens, 5 caps)

Luke Northmore (Harlequins, 2 caps)

Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 7 caps)

Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 65 caps)

Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)

Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)

Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 35 caps)

Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby, 6 caps)

Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps)

Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)

Rehabilitation:George Ford (Sale Sharks)

Not considered for selection: Alex Coles (Northampton Saints),Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Will Muir (Bath Rugby), Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby), Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks).