Dave Attwood has left camp to attend the birth of his first child with England hopeful he will return in time for Saturday's clash with New Zealand.

Uncapped George Kruis is on standby to line up alongside Courtney Lawes in the starting XV if Bath second row Attwood is forced to miss the QBE Series opener at Twickenham.

"Dave has gone home, his wife's in labour," forwards coach Graham Rowntree said.

"They've both promised me their baby will be delivered in the next couple of days! Hopefully that will be sorted for the weekend.

"He's in his car and on his way home, so good luck to them both.

"We'll deal with this day by day. We'll assess it on Thursday morning."

Attwood has been earmarked to start after Joe Launchbury was ruled out of the autumn appointments with New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia with a neck problem.

If the 27-year-old's fiancee Bridget gives birth in time, he will have the opportunity to make a third successive appearance against the All Blacks after winning two caps as a replacement on the June tour.

"We're very confident in Dave. The Tests against New Zealand in the summer gave him a taste of high-class rugby," Rowntree said.

"He enjoyed it and he's gone back, got himself very fit and shed some weight.

"His game involvement has increased sufficiently and he's played exceptionally well in Bath's pack, so I'm more than happy with him."

England's depleted second-row stocks - Geoff Parling and Ed Slater are also missing for the entire autumn - has potentially given Kruis the opportunity to shine.

Rowntree is confident Kruis is ready to win his first cap against the all-conquering world champions and views England's front-five injury crisis as an opportunity.

"George has been outstanding. We've been watching him for some time but he's come in and exceeded my expectations," Rowntree said.

"I was a big fan to start with, but I can't praise him enough, how he's got up to speed with things.

"He's actually leading things in terms of the line-out area.

"He's exceptionally confident and fit, he's one of the last forwards to finish the endurance tests.

"We have some big names missing. We have virtually a pack of British and Irish Lions who will be sat at home on Saturday.

"But I've been here before and I've seen guys take their chances.

"What better time to do that than against the All Blacks at Twickenham?

"What a great opportunity for these guys to come in and give us more questions and selection headaches. I want these headaches and guys putting their hands up. This is another opportunity for that to happen."