Kennedy suffered the knee injury playing for London Irish in May

England lock Nick Kennedy has dropped out of the Test squad for the series against Argentina after failing to recover from a knee injury in time.

Kennedy, 27, will continue his recovery from ligament damage with the Saxons.

Saxons head coach Stuart Lancaster has made three other changes to his squad ahead of the Churchill Cup, which runs from 6-21 June in Denver.

Harlequins prop Mark Lambert, Leicester winger Matt Smith and Sale hooker Neil Briggs have all been drafted in.

606: DEBATE How should England line up against Argentina?

Alex Corbisiero (knee) and Alex Goode (ankle) have both dropped out injured while Briggs has been added to the Saxons squad, which flies out to America on Monday, as cover for Joe Ward who has a calf injury.

Matt Banahan has been promoted to the senior squad for the Tests against the Pumas on 6 June in Manchester and in Salta a week later as a replacement for the unwell David Strettle.

Kennedy, who suffered the knee injury in London Irish's Guinness Premiership semi-final victory over Harlequins, will not be fit in time to feature in either of England's Tests against the Pumas.

Saxons squad:

Forwards: N Briggs (Sale Sharks), Dan Cole (Leicester), P Dowson (Newcastle), David Flatman (Bath), T Guest (Harlequins), S Hooper (Bath), C Jones (Sale Sharks), N Kennedy (London Irish), M Lambert (Harlequins), T Mercey (Saracens), L Narraway (Gloucester), D Schofield (Sale Sharks), P Short (Bath), J Ward (Wasps), R Webber (Wasps), B Woods (Leicester).

Backs: N Abendanon (Bath), B Barritt (Saracens), N Cato (Saracens), D Cipriani (Wasps), S Geraghty (London Irish), S Myler (Northampton), J Simpson (Wasps), M Smith (Leicester), T Varndell (Leicester), D Waldouck (Wasps), M Young (Newcastle).

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version