He subsequently underwent surgery and was rated as doubtful for a return before England’s clash with Fiji on November 10 which is starts a sequence of weekly matches that also includes fixtures with the Springboks, Australia and New Zealand.

But Cockerill has revealed that Youngs, who started England’s first two matches of this year’s RBS 6 Nations and came on as a replacement in the last three, is ahead of schedule.

“Things are going well for Ben and we expect to see him back playing by around the middle of October,” said Cockerill.

“He’ll need some game time then but it’s looking good.”

The competition for England’s No.9 jersey will be fierce for the four autumn internationals as well as next year’s Six Nations with Lee Dickson excelling last year and Danny Care also returning to the international fold in South Africa.