Lions prop Andrew Sheridan is set to make his England comeback against New Zealand on the weekend.
Sheridan, who has made 10 appearances for the Lions on the 2005 and 2009 tours, suffered a dislocation of his left shoulder when a scrum collapsed on him during Sale’s Heineken Cup game against Cardiff Blues in October 2009.
The front-row giant underwent a four-hour operation to solve the problem and took the opportunity to get his troublesome right shoulder sorted out as well.
Sheridan won the last of his 32 caps against Scotland in the 2009 Six Nations. He was rewarded for his fine form with a place on the Lions tour to South Africa that summer, but had to be content with a spot on the bench behind Wales prop Gethin Jenkins, although he started the final Test against the Springboks.
Sheridan is one nine former Lions in contention for a starting place against the All Blacks. Martin Johnson is expected to stick with the same line-up that beat Australia in the summer, with Bath's Shontayne Hape possibly lining up against his former New Zealand rugby league team-mate Sonny Bill Williams.
Northampton back-row pair Tom Wood and Phil Dowson have been added to the England squad as injury cover, as have Leicester's Anthony Allen and James Simpson-Daniel of Gloucester.
New Zealand will be without electric wing Cory Jane who has been ruled out for at least a week after suffering a rib injury in their defeat at the hands of Australia last weekend. Scans have confirmed there is no fracture but the paceman has suffered a deep haematoma to his left chest wall.
