Ben Morgan injured his ankle against Scotland © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Freddie Burns | Alex Corbisiero | Tom Croft | Ben Morgan

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: England

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has confirmed Ben Morgan, Alex Corbisiero and Freddie Burns will not be available for the Six Nations clash with France next weekend.

Morgan suffered an ankle injury during England's opening Six Nations match against Scotland at the beginning of the month and subsequently missed their narrow win over Ireland in Dublin. While Burns and Corbisiero have missed both of England's opening matches with knee injuries.

Lancaster is happy with the progress being made by all three players but insists it will be a couple of weeks before Morgan and Burns are ready to return while Corbisiero, as expected, will be out for longer than that.

Morgan and Burns therefore could have a chance of playing in England's penultimate match against Italy on March 10, though Corbisiero remains unlikely to return in time to feature in England's Grand Slam drive.

"They are making good recoveries but they are all still a way from being in contention for a spot," he told Sky Sports News. "Their next step is to go back to their clubs. Freddy is making good progress so hopefully he will be back at Gloucester soon. Ben Morgan will be another couple of weeks and Alex Corbisiero could be a bit longer than that.

Lancaster is also encouraged by the progress of flanker Tom Croft, who started for Leicester against London Welsh last weekend. Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill has confirmed that Croft will not play against Harlequins this weekend but will feature against Saracens the following week as he continues his comeback from a serious neck injury.

"Tom Croft is the other one. We were pleased with his performance for Leicester at the weekend. I think he is going to miss week but keep making good progress and i am sure he will come back into the equation over the next few weeks."