England Squad Announcement: Nine Uncapped Players Included
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Eddie Jones has named a 36-player squad for his England side’s autumn tournament fixtures.
England will play their final match of the rescheduled 2020 Six Nations against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday 31 October (4.45pm GMT KO), knowing a bonus-point win could see them lift the trophy.
They will then return to begin their Autumn Nations Cup campaign at Twickenham Stadium where they will play three Quilter Internationals. England will play Georgia (Saturday 14 November, 3pm KO) and Ireland (Saturday 21 November, 3pm KO). They will then face Wales away (Saturday 28 November, 4pm KO) before a placing match at home to determine final position in the competition (Sunday 6 December, 2pm KO).
England have been in training for the fixtures during October at The Lensbury in Teddington. The squad includes seven Premiership finalists - Exeter Chiefs trio Jonny Hill, Henry Slade and Harry Williams, along with Wasps’ Joe Launchbury, Dan Robson, Jacob Umaga and Jack Willis.
Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ali Crossdale, Courtney Lawes, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuilagi and Mark Wilson are unavailable due to injury. Elliot Daly, George Ford and Joe Marler will join up with the squad for reconditioning.
Jones said: “We have to put our best foot forward if we want to win the Six Nations. We need to set the tone of the game and we want to put a smile on fans’ faces, a lot of people are enduring hardships and we are grateful for the opportunity to represent England in these difficult times.
“We were obviously disappointed with the postponement of the Barbarians game but we moved to plan B, had a highly competitive training session instead of the match and now we are fully focused on the Italy game and the goal of winning the Six Nations.
“It was a tough squad to pick and I know there are a number of disappointed players that have just missed out. We’ve got a good balance between experience and inexperience.
“With nine players out injured, it does create some opportunities for the younger guys to show what they can do. We’re very happy with what we’ve seen in the mini-camps and the Barbarians’ training week, it’s been really competitive.”
Recently appointed skills coach Jason Ryles will join up with the team for the start of the Autumn Nations Cup, after finishing the season and winning the NRL Grand Final with Melbourne Storm, where he was assistant coach.
ENGLAND SQUAD
View this post on InstagramEngland's 36-man squad for the remainder of the #GuinnessSixNations and #AutumnNationsCup 🌹
