LONDON (Reuters) -England coach Eddie Jones has included 10 uncapped players, including in-form London Irish duo Henry Arundell and Will Joseph and Leicester scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet in a 36-man training squad to prepare for the summer tour of Australia.
Joe Cokanasiga, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson and Jack Willis return following injury and prop Mako Vunipola is also recalled.
Jones has also rested experienced players, including scrumhalf Ben Youngs and hooker Jamie George, though said they would all be in contention for the tour.
“We’re going to use this camp as an opportunity to prepare for the (non-cap) Barbarians fixture and for a really important Australia tour,” Jones told reporters at Twickenham on Tuesday. “We want to take a look at some younger players and prepare a base camp for the Barbarians game, particularly as we will be without the Premiership finalists, and also give some senior players a rest as we get to a crucial part of the season.”
Fullback Arundell has been flavour of the month recently, with his length of the field Challenge Cup try against Toulon becoming an internet sensation. As the 19-year-old qualifies for Scotland, Wales – and Cyprus – Jones will also want to lock him down.
“We watched him during the under-20s and he was impressive,” he said. “He’s got exceptional pace and probably reminds me a lot of Matt Giteau, in terms of his desire to attack.
“I was particularly impressed when I went to see him play against Wasps. The ball was kicked to him and he knocked it on cold, so it wasn’t a great start. Next he gets a long pass, sees back space, chips and scores and that’s the sort of mindset you want to see from young players who want to take on the game.”
England face Australia in Perth on July 2, Brisbane on July 9 and Sydney on July 16.
LOSING STREAK
Australian media reported on Tuesday that Japan-based trio Quade Cooper, Samu Kerevi and Marika Koroibete will be available for the series, which would be a huge boost for the Wallabies as they seek to end an eight-match losing streak against England that began with a 3-0 home series sweep of defeats in 2016.
Jones, who coached the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final when they lost to England, said it would be a different situation to six years ago in his first year in charge of England.
“They were an established team coming off the back of a World Cup final where they’d done exceedingly well,” he said.
“It looks like they’ll have a fairly young team that will play that traditional Dave Rennie-type of rugby, a lot of ball movement, a lot of sequence plays, so the challenge in the game will be different.
“Obviously, the game’s also changing considerably. It’s becoming more powerful, shorter blocks of intense periods of play, so it’s much different to when we went there in 2016.”
England training squad
Forwards
Alfie Barbeary (Wasps, uncapped)Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, 6 caps)Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 40 caps)Nic Dolly (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 9 caps)Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 30 caps)Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 36 caps)Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)Maro Itoje (Saracens, 56 caps)Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 70 caps)Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 93 caps)Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)George McGuigan (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)Tom Pearson (London Irish, uncapped)Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 20 caps)Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 28 caps)Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 67 caps)Jack Willis (Wasps, 3 caps)
BacksHenry Arundell (London Irish, uncapped)Orlando Bailey (Bath Rugby, uncapped)Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints, uncapped)Owen Farrell (Saracens, 94 caps)Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, uncapped)George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 6 caps)Will Joseph (London Irish, uncapped)Louis Lynagh (Harlequins, uncapped)Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 6 caps)Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 10 caps)Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 10 caps)Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 46 caps)Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 51 caps)
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Martyn Herman and Ed Osmond)
