The NEC Harlequins centre has returned to the England camp after a week at home with wife Caro, who is in hospital after suffering complications with her second pregnancy.

The couple's first child, Freddie, died after being born prematurely last September.

Caro was taken to hospital this month and then underwent surgery, with Greenwood flying home after playing in England's first two World Cup games against Georgia and South Africa.

His wife is now out of intensive care and Greenwood flew in to join up with the squad at their base on the Gold Coast in Queensland to prepare for next Sunday's game against Uruguay.

Caro is making good progress with the support of family and friends - and playing rugby with England will help Greenwood put those cares to one side.

The squad has been together for a long time and grown closer during a year in which they also mourned the sudden death of Harlequins and England scrum-half Nick Duncombe on the eve of the Six Nations Championship.

"She's hanging in there, she's a tough cookie and I hope that in three or four weeks when we come back she'll be able to return home" said Greenwood.

"She's had an operation, the results have been good and she's now stable. She was in intensive care for a while. The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have been wonderful and she's now on bedrest with her mother and friends able to come in and see her.

"When we lost Freddie last year, I found rugby a tremendous place to be during the Austumn internationals.

"A lot of these guys I've been good mates with for years since the England under-21 team in 1993 and as last February showed with Nick Duncombe we've been through some good times and some bad times.

"Rugby is one of those places where there's always the next Springbok tackle coming in or you're hitting the next ruck or maul and getting cleared out of it.

"With what happened last year with Freddie there would be a break in a conversation sometimes and your mind goes back to it but rugby's an escape from all that."

Greenwood returned to find his teammates chewing over the implications of their Sunday's 35-22 win against Samoa and the mood in the camp tilting between satisfaction at recording a third successive victory and worries over the standard of their performance.

Now they will spend the week working on fitness - Greenwood followed the training regime mapped out for him while in England - relaxing for couple of days and then preparing for the final Pool C game against Uruguay in Brisbane.

He also believes the physical nature of their first three games, compared with some of the record scores run up in some of the more lop-sided groups, could stand the team in good stead.

"The boys are justifiably pleased to get to the stage of played three, won three," he said.

"They're not elated with the performance but they've come away with a bonus point from three tries.

"Here now we've got a big week of training with Dave Reddin and a couple of days of R and R. As far as I'm aware the boys are in good spirits and it's a squad that's able to enjoy itself and switch off for a couple of days.

"We feel we've been put through some very good tests. I'm sure the game time in tight situations could - and I stress the 'could' - be very useful for us."

While Greenwood was flying into Brisbane, Martin Corry was heading in the other direction to attend the arrival of his first child.

The Leicester flanker's wife Tara is expected to give birth in the next few days and afterwards Corry will be back on the plane to rejoin the squad in time to face Uruguay if required.

And another England player is also waiting for important news from the home front. Jason Leonard's partner Sandra is expecting their third child to be born during the tournament.