Manu Tuilagi injured his groin in Leicester's European Champions Cup victory over Ulster on Saturday © Getty Images

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England coach Stuart Lancaster has kept the door open for injured Manu Tuilagi and is hopeful he could yet play a role in the autumn internationals.

Tuilagi picked up a groin injury playing for Leicester at the weekend and Richard Cockerill has since dismissed his chances of featuring for England during their November Test programme. But Lancaster, who included Jonathan Joseph in the squad unveiled on Wednesday as cover for Tuilagi, is hopeful the Leicester outside centre will still run out for England at some point in November.

England start their four-Test programme against New Zealand on November 8 and while Tuilagi will miss that match, he could be thrown into the mix against either Samoa on November 22 or Australia a week later.

"It's a joint-management programme between us and Leicester and between us we have to get it right," Lancaster said. "The most important person in all of this is Manu and we have to make sure we get his rehabilitation right and get him some game time.

"There's no definitive time line, it's not that sort of injury. Certainly in our mind the reason we brought Jonathan Joseph into the camp is Manu won't be fit for the start of the series but in our mind we have not shut the door. It could take six weeks but we'll never say never."

England assistant coach Andy Farrell added Tuilagi will still be an important figure in the camp. He said: "You'll always miss someone of Manu's quality. I feel sorry for him; he's absolutely devastated.

"He missed a large part of last season internationally and he's devastated to be out again. But we're dead keen to keep him in camp, keep him connected. It's a long year ahead for everyone and he'll be fresh at the right stage of the season."

While Tuilagi was omitted from the squad due to injury, Danny Cipriani has seen Northampton's Stephen Myler, Bath's George Ford and Saracens' Owen Farrell picked ahead of him on form.

Farrell has missed much of the season due to injury and he was forced to sit out the third Test against the All Blacks in June. With Farrell and Ford out injured, Lancaster opted to start Freddie Burns with Cipriani named among the replacements. Despite seemingly jumping ahead of Myler in the pecking order, Lancaster has opted to name the Northampton fly-half as his third No.10 in the squad.

"Stephen Myler was very unlucky not to start the first Test in New Zealand, which he would have done had he not been in the Premiership final," Lancaster said. "Stephen Myler has the best skill execution, has played in big games and deserves his chance.

"Both [Burns and Cipriani] have done well in games this season, but we feel the consistency that Stephen has shown, the attacking prowess of George Ford and Owen's inclusion is merited on what he's done in the past."

England know what Farrell is capable of but Wednesday's announcement saw three uncapped players called up -Bath's Semesa Rokoduguni, Northampton's Calum Clark and Saracens' George Kruis. For Rokoduguni, his inclusion comes at the expense of Chris Ashton and Lancaster is contemplating giving him his first taste of international rugby against the All Blacks following an impressive start to the season which has seen him score four tries in six games for Bath.

"We have certainly discussed that [using him in the first game]," Lancaster said. "We spent a bit of time with him In June before we went on tour. We're keen to get working with him because he's been outstanding for Bath. They play in a similar way to the way we try to play.

"When you lose someone like Manu, Roko comes into the equation because of his collisions and his ability to beat defenders and carry the ball over the gainline. He's a finisher as well."