England forward Nathan Hughes facing three to four weeks out

Nathan Hughes featured in the first two autumn internationals

England forward Nathan Hughes will sit out Saturday's international against Samoa in order to rehabilitate a knee injury.

The Wasps No 8 has returned to his club side after suffering bruising to a bone in his knee joint and is expected to be on the sidelines for three to four weeks.

Head coach Eddie Jones has retained 25 members of his squad, but has released a further eight players to their clubs, including Bath pair Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson, and Worcester's Ben Te'o.

Tom Dunn, George Kruis, Zach Mercer, Marcus Smith and Denny Solomona are the other players to be released from the squad, while Sam Underhill will continue to go through his Graduated Return to Play protocols in camp.

Fijian-born Hughes featured in each of England's two opening autumn internationals, a 21-8 victory over Argentina followed by last Saturday's 30-6 win against Australia.

England will hope to complete an unbeaten November when Samoa visit Twickenham this weekend.

England squad: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Piers Francis (Northampton Saints), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs).