Leicester Tigers are waiting on the fitness of Ben Youngs, with the scrum-half unlikely to feature again until December.
Youngs is currently recovering from shoulder surgery after he sustained the injury in England's second Test against the Springboks in June.
It was originally thought that Youngs would be fit by September, but that has now been extended to October. However, with England playing three Tests in November and December, Tigers boss Cockerill has to prepare to be without his first-choice scrum-half until the end of the year.
"Ben has had surgery and he is having holiday time at the minute, which is important," said Cockerill.
"He will miss the first rounds of the Heineken Cup, which is not ideal because you want your best players playing in the biggest games.
"When he is fit, he will be back on the field. It is typical that he will get fit and then we will lose him to the autumn internationals."
Either Sam Harrison or Micky Young are expected to fill the void left by Youngs.
