England will be without scrum-half Kyran Bracken and winger David Rees for their Five Nations Grand Slam decider against Wales at Wembley on April 11th.

Both players were injured during the 21-10 win over France last Saturday. Bracken has damaged knee ligaments, while Rees has a badly sprained ankle. Bracken is expected to be out for around a month according to his club Saracens.

"The medical people tell us it's a grade two injury and it isn't as bad as it could have been," said Saracens team manager Mike Scott. "The normal time out for this kind of injury is four weeks. It is a blow to be without him, but hopefully it won't be too long before he is back playing for us."

It is the latest in a long line of setbacks for Bracken since making his international debut in 1993. Scott added: "The injury was a complete freak and he has not suffered from this problem before. He was running across the pitch and a French player fell on his leg."

Bracken's injury will give Matt Dawson the chance to establish himself in the number nine shirt for the Wales decider. Dawson came on for Bracken after 34 minutes of last Saturday's match at Twickenham.

Rees, meanwhile, is to undergo physiotherapy on an ankle injury he picked up 17 minutes from the end of the France game when he was replaced by Northampton's Nick Beal. The initial medical bulletins suggest Rees could be out for up to six weeks.

Meanwhile, the Wembley match looks certain to be a 79,000 sell-out. The Welsh Rugby Union have reported frantic ticket sales.

Some 73,000 tickets have already been snapped up. WRU spokesman Lyn Davies said yesterday: "The telephone ticket line number has been red-hot since the weekend, and we've had queues outside the ticket office throughout yesterday and today."