England hit by injury blow to Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph

England will be without injured rugby players Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph for the autumn internationals in November.

The BBC reports that winger Watson faces an “extended, unspecified lay-off” after re-tearing an Achilles tendon in pre-season. The 24-year-old was originally injured in England’s Six Nations defeat against Ireland in March.

Watson is also a major doubt for next year’s Six Nations after having a second operation on his torn achilles. Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder was unable to say how long Watson would be out of action. “It is a start-again injury, so we honestly don’t know what the timeline is”, he said.

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Blackadder told The Guardian: “The initial surgery didn’t take basically, [he needed] another tear to have surgery again. He’s had to start afresh and it [the operation] was done about a month ago.”

Watson’s Bath teammate Joseph will definitely miss the November matches against South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia at Twickenham. His ankle injury means he’s not expected to return until Christmas.

England’s autumn international fixtures

England vs. South Africa

• When: Saturday 3 November
• Where: Twickenham, London
• Kick-off time: 3pm

England vs. New Zealand

• When: Saturday 10 November
• Where: Twickenham, London
• Kick-off time: 3pm

England vs. Japan

• When: Saturday 17 November
• Where: Twickenham, London
• Kick-off time: 3pm

England vs. Australia

• When: Saturday 24 November
• Where: Twickenham, London
• Kick-off time: 3pm