True but if they decided to scrape the Sabre (and reassign the engineers and draftsmen) the Centaurus might be as good an alternative as trying to use the R-2800.
From Wiki, take as you will:
"The first Tempest Mk.II, LA602, flew on 28 June 1943 powered by a Centaurus IV (2,520 hp/1,879 kW) driving a four-blade propeller"
" This was followed by the second, LA607, which was completed with the enlarged dorsal fin and first flew on 18 September 1943"
"Orders had been placed as early as September 1942 for 500 Tempest Mk.IIs to be built by Gloster"
At some point it was decided that ALL Tempest IIs would be
tropicalized.
"in 1943, because of priority being given to the Typhoon, a production contract of 330 Tempest Mk.IIs was allocated instead to Bristol, while Hawker were to build 1,800. This switch delayed production even more"
"The first Tempest II was rolled off the line on 4 October 1944"
Apparently it didn't enjoy the highest priority