Easter broke his hand leading England against the Barbarians

Nick Easter will miss England's two Tests against New Zealand after failing to recover from a fractured hand sustained against the Barbarians.

The Harlequins number eight was initially cleared to fly to Auckland with the squad last Monday but his injury has failed to heal as predicted.

He will fly home and manager Rob Andrew will not summon a replacement.

Easter, who captained England against the Barbarians, said: "I'm obviously very disappointed to leave the tour."

He broke the second metacarpal on his right hand in England's 17-14 win in a feisty game at Twickenham.

Easter, who has 16 caps, added: "Like all the players in the squad, I was competing for a place to face the All Blacks - which is always a massive challenge and one I was really looking forward to.

We brought out seven back-row forwards so we have sufficient cover England stand-in manager Rob Andrew

The first Test against the All Blacks is in Auckland on Saturday before a second Test in Christchurch on 21 June.

Easter established himself as England's first-choice number eight at last year's World Cup, playing all their last six games after taking over from Lawrence Dallaglio following the opening win over the USA.

He missed the opening game of this year's Six Nations against Wales through injury, when Luke Narraway made his debut.

Following Easter's departure from New Zealand, Narraway, who only has three caps, will contest the number eight spot with James Haskell, who is marginally more experienced with six caps to his name.

606: DEBATE Who should replace Easter at number eight?

Michael Lipman and Tom Rees will contest the open-side position with the team set to be announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning, British time.

Easter is the fourth player to withdraw from the original squad, following fly-half Danny Cipriani (broken ankle), his replacement Dan Hipkiss (fractured cheekbone) and winger Paul Sackey (knee).

Andrew added: "On behalf of the whole squad, I'd like to wish Nick a speedy recovery. I won't be flying in anyone to replace Nick, because we brought out seven back-row forwards for the tour - so we have sufficient cover."

Meanwhile, New Zealand have called up uncapped Crusaders prop Ben Franks as a replacement for John Afoa, who faces a month on the sidelines after suffering knee ligament damage in the All Blacks' 21-11 win over Ireland.

Greg Somerville, who was rested for the Ireland game, will be back in contention against England, but Tony Woodcock is unlikely to be available as he continues to recover from a badly bruised toe.

The All Blacks' prop resources were already stretched after the departure of tight-head giant Carl Hayman to Newcastle.

But Neemia Tialata made light of concerns about his fitness and form with an impressive outing against the Irish.

"He scrummed superbly I thought, both sides, and he carried well," said head coach Graham Henry.

"He is an international prop. His preferred position is loose-head but he's a bloke who can play tight-head and they are like hen's teeth - blokes who can do both jobs."