England head coach Stuart Lancaster has admitted dropping try scorer Ugo Monye was a harsh decision to make. 

Monye, who scored on his England return in Saturday's 54-12 win over Fiji at Twickenham, has not been named in the initial 23-man squad to face Australia this weekend.

The 29-year-old, along with lock George Robson, will instead be released back to Harlequins, while clubmates Chris Robshaw, Joe Marler, Danny Care and Mike Brown are in line to face the Wallabies.

And Lancaster admitted Monye's efforts had been overshadowed by the Charlie Sharples' double, while Saracens man Chris Ashton has impressed in training this week.

“We had to make some tough decisions within the 23 and we are in a good position to be able to select from a largely fit squad," he said.

“Training has been very focused during the last two days with all the players training well and pushing hard.
 

“Alex Corbisiero has played once in five months so it is important that he goes back and has more game time for London Irish.

"Jonathan Joseph has come through training, but Brad and Manu did well in the centres and, similar to Alex, it would be good for him to get some game time.  
 

“It is tough on Ugo, who misses out this time, but Chris (Ashton) has been excellent in training and Charlie is rewarded for his performance at the weekend.”