New Zealand centre Steve Matai has been diagnosed with bleeding in his left eye and is unlikely to play against England on Saturday.

Manly's Matai reeled out of a tackle on France replacement Andrew Bentley in the 30th minute of Saturday's 62-12 win at Stade Ernest Wallon and stumbled several times as he was helped from the field by a trainer.

He was taken to hospital at fulltime for tests on a possible fractured eye socket but officials were hopeful of him being available for the November 14 final at Elland Road - if the Kiwis qualify.

"He has small internal bleeding in the eye and needs to rest for five days," a team spokesman said.

"He will fly with the team to Leeds tomorrow and will be looked at again there. He's in doubt for the next game."

Some of Matai's team-mates were disturbed about the injury when they saw him in the dressing room at halftime.

"It looked pretty nasty, blew up straight away I think," fullback Lance Hohaia said.

"Hopefully it's just bruising but it looks a little bit serious.

"He was a bit down. He didn't come back on. He's a tough bloke and he's been through some tough injuries before."

Utility Greg Eastwood came through his return from a hamstring injury with no problems while back rower Bronson Harrison (calf) is hopeful of proving his fitness for Saturday's clash against England at Galpharm Stadium.

Parramatta's Krisnan Inu would seem to be the obvious replacement for Matai after being a controversial omission from the first two matches of the tournament.

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