Exeter Chiefs completed an Aviva Premiership double over leaders Harlequins with a stunning 27-16 upset at the Stoop yesterday.

Stuart Lancaster's carefully laid plans for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship were subject to early adjustment last night, with the first sight of the enemy still almost a fortnight distant. Injuries to two of the England coach's back-row forwards, the Exeter flanker Tom Johnson and the Northampton bruiser Calum Clark, forced him into action and he immediately turned to the uncapped Worcester breakaway Matt Kvesic to fill one of the gaps.

Full-back

Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns is in line to make his England debut against New Zealand on Saturday after being called up as an injury replacement for Toby Flood.

Moody Views

Injury and suspension may be the bane of a coach's life, but they take the pain out of team selection. The failure of the London Irish centre Jonathan Joseph to complete Monday's training session at the England base in Surrey effectively ruled him out of next Saturday's meeting with Fiji at Twickenham, thereby sparing Stuart Lancaster and his back-room staff an awkward decision in midfield. It now seems certain that Brad Barritt of Saracens and Leicester's Manu Tuilagi will be reunited in the back division.

London Irish 28 Harlequins 31

Uncapped forwards Mako Vunipola and Tom Youngs have been called into the England squad for the QBE autumn internationals.

It was party time at Exeter as the Chiefs marked their 50th Aviva Premiership match with a 42-28 victory over Harlequins that earned them a try-scoring bonus point and prevented the visitors from going back to the top of the table.

England's Test side will hope to take some encouragement from their midweek team after a hard-fought win in their tour match against the Northern Barbarians.

Stuart Lancaster has warned Manu Tuilagi over his tackling technique after he faced the prospect of being banned from England's tour of South Africa.