England head coach Stuart Lancaster has signed a six-year contract extension, news that will be some consolation following the loss of Geoff Parling and and Alex Corbisiero for the Autumn series.
Leicester have eased concerns over the severity of Parling's concussion symptoms by insisting his career is not in doubt.
Parling was ruled out of this autumn's QBE Series just hours after it was announced that Corbisiero will be sidelined until early next year with torn shoulder ligaments.
Parling has been concussed five times in 11 months, most recently in Leicester's 45-0 Aviva Premiership defeat at Bath 10 days ago - the second incident of its kind in three games.
While the 30-year-old British and Irish Lions lock is facing two months of recovery, Tigers director of rugby Cockerill dispelled concerns over his playing career.
"You'd like to think that by December he'll be playing again. And there's no doubt about that, he will play again"
"Geoff saw the relevant specialist this week and will have time out of the game now," Cockerill said.
"He'll probably have three or four weeks of complete down time and then he'll be reintegrated into training.
"You'd like to think that by December he'll be playing again. And there's no doubt about that, he will play again. There are no issues over that.
"It's more that he's had successive concussions in a short period of time. You have to take that very seriously, as we do.
"Ultimately there are more important things than playing rugby and you have to look at the bigger picture."
The loss of Corbisiero is a significant setback to England, who are now missing four front rows for the autumn series against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia.
The British and Irish Lions loosehead joins Tom Youngs, Dan Cole and Mako Vunipola among the wounded after being hurt in Northampton's 31-24 Aviva Premiership victory over Bath on Saturday.
Meanwhile, there was better news for England with the announcement that Stuart Lancaster will coach the national side beyond the world cup in 2019 in Japan after signing a six-year contract extension.
Lancaster's coaching team of Graham Rowntree, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt have also completed new deals to run until the end of the 2019/20 season.
Former Leeds boss Lancaster had to battle to secure his permanent appointment as England head coach in March 2012, but this extended contract is a huge show of faith from the RFU.
Chief executive Ian Ritchie said RFU bosses were determined to act swiftly to secure the long-term future of Lancaster and his coaching group.
"We are lucky to have a talented, committed and passionate coaching group," he said.
"Coaching at international level is unique in that the time Stuart and the coaches have with the players is limited and in that regard it requires a special and stable coaching team.
"We therefore felt it important to secure their long-term future and we believe this is entirely the right decision for the future of England Rugby."
