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England name eight uncapped players in Six Nations squad to face Italy
Eight uncapped players have made Eddie Jones' squad of 35 for their Six Nations opener against Italy on February 4.
Loosehead props Alec Hepburn of Exeter Chiefs and Lewis Boyce of Harlequins are promoted in the absence of Joe Marler, Ellis Genge and Beno Obano.
Elsewhere, there are places for pacey Saracens wing Nathan Earle and Northampton Saints playmaker Harry Mallinder - both of whom toured Argentina last summer without winning a cap.
Newcastle Falcons back-rower Gary Graham continues his involvements, as do Bath hooker Tom Dunn, Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith and Zach Mercer.
Significantly, Bath back-rower Mercer has been stripped of his 'apprentice' tag, paving the way for a Test debut in Rome.
In a victory for the RFU's player pathway, six of these rookies - all except Dunn and Graham - have featured for England Under-20 over the past five years.
Intriguingly, Exeter Chief Jack Nowell is listed as an 'inside back', having spent his entire international career to date on the wing.
England squad
Backs
Full backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins) Nathan Earle (Saracens)* Harry Mallinder (Northampton Saints)* Jonny May (Leicester Tigers) Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks) Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Inside backs
Danny Care (Harlequins) Owen Farrell (Saracens) George Ford (Leicester Tigers) Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby) Alex Lozowski (Saracens) Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) Marcus Smith (Harlequins) * ** Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Forwards
Back five
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons)* Nick Isiekwe (Saracens) Maro Itoje (Saracens) George Kruis (Saracens) Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) Joe Launchbury (Wasps) Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby)* Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs) Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
Front row
Lewis Boyce (Harlequins)* Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)* Jamie George (Saracens) Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs) * Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins) Mako Vunipola (Saracens) Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
Uncapped * Apprentice player **
Players unavailable Tom Curry (Sale Sharks) Elliot Daly (Wasps) Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) Piers Francis (Northampton Saints) Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers) James Haskell (Wasps) Nathan Hughes (Wasps) Joe Marler (Harlequins) Matt Mullan (Wasps) Beno Obano (Bath Rugby) Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby) Will Spencer (Worcester Warriors) Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Clear-up on Ben Vellacott
So we understand that Gloucester's scrum-half is in the 45-man EPS, which is not published.
Merry-go-round
12/14 backs from the 2017 6Nations squad are in 2018 squad, 8/20 forwards. pic.twitter.com/hafJrBXsOh
— Russ Petty (@rpetty80) January 18, 2018
Alec Hepburn
We've done a little piece on the running lines that Alec Hepburn can hit as part of Exeter Chiefs' attacking patterns. Check it out.
Lewis Boyce
This is Lewis Boyce, one of the two uncapped looseheads named in the squad behind Mako Vunipola in the absence of unavailable quartet Joe Marler, Ellis Genge, Beno Obano and Matt Mullan.
His credentials are good. He helped win the Junior World Championship with England Under-20 in 2016, plays his club rugby under Graham Rowntree at Harlequins and is technically-sound scrummager.
Interesting role for Nowell?
Of course this could have absolutely no bearing on where he plays - Eddie Jones loves making the media think - but Jack Nowell is listed as an 'inside back' on the press release. Could the tenacious Chief be used in midfield?
Jones on picking Nowell as a centre - “Jack Nowell is an option at 13, we have some great options there in Jonathan Joseph, Henry Slade and Ben Te’o."
— Jonny Fordham ���� (@SunJonnyFordham) January 18, 2018
No more tea-making
Interestingly Zach Mercer has lost his apprentice status. Clearing the way for him to make his debut in Rome?
— Chris Jones BBC (@chjones9) January 18, 2018
Absentee list
This came at the same time as the squad announcement, and is a good indicator of Jones' thinking:
Players unavailable
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks) Elliot Daly (Wasps) Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) Piers Francis (Northampton Saints) Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers) James Haskell (Wasps) Nathan Hughes (Wasps) Joe Marler (Harlequins) Matt Mullan (Wasps) Beno Obano (Bath Rugby) Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby) Will Spencer (Worcester Warriors) Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Did Jones sell Townsend a dummy?
After all that, no Ben Vellacott in the England squad. Eight uncapped players - Lewis Boyce, Gary Graham, Alec Hepburn, Nathan Earle, Harry Mallinder, Marcus Smith, Zach Mercer and Tom Dunn.
— Ben Coles (@bencoles_) January 18, 2018
Headlines
Jones has selected eight uncapped players, while there are 898 caps between the other 27 players in the squad.
Harlequins prop Lewis Boyce is called up for the first time following club teammate Joe Marler receiving a six-week suspension last week. The 2016 World Rugby U20 Championship winner is in his first season at the west London club having signed from Yorkshire Carnegie.
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) is retained having been involved in the England setup for the first time earlier this month in Brighton and Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs) receives his first call up into the senior squad.
Outside backs Nathan Earle (Saracens) and Harry Mallinder (Northampton Saints) are also named. Both travelled on England’s tour of Argentina in June but were not capped.
The other rookies are Marcus Smith, Zach Mercer - who loses his apprentice asterisks - and Tom Dunn.
Squad in....
Five minutes to go...
Who do you want to see involved?
England's 6N squad announced tomorrow.
Eddie...I'll just leave this here: pic.twitter.com/XMOfZBaxRQ— Tim Cocker (@cocker) January 17, 2018
Ben the bolter?
With less than 15 minutes to go until the announcement, read up on potential inclusion Ben Vellacott. Scotland boss Gregor Townsend seems to think that the Gloucester scrum-half - who is absolutely rapid - will named by Eddie Jones.
Analysis
I'm going to recycle this, because with Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes sidelined it seems as though Sam Simmonds will head into this tournament as England's first-choice number eight.
Back in October, we had a look at the exciting Exeter Chief can slot into England's gameplan.
Eddie's extension
You *might* have seen the news yesterday that Eddie Jones has signed a new contract to stay as England head coach until 2021. Here's a very stern picture of the Australian in the Twickenham changing room.
We had plenty of reaction on our site yesterday. Here's Gav Mairs on what that could mean for the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour, and how his assistants have not had their deals renewed as yet. We also looked at four potential directions for the succession plan...
After Eddie: Where do England turn next? Four directions for 2021 succession | @CharlieFelixhttps://t.co/W1Y8pWuVYm
— Telegraph Rugby (@TelegraphRugby) January 17, 2018
...and Mick Cleary spoke to Rob Baxter, arguably the leading candidate.
Morning
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of England's squad announcement for their first match of the 2018 Six Nations. They are being particular about that. This is a group to prepare for that one game, on Sunday, February 4 at Stadio Olimpico.
Here's Dan Schofield with a few nuggets of insight on what to expect:
England head coach Eddie Jones has resisted the temptation to fast-track centre Manu Tuilagi straight into the Six Nations as he announces his squad on Thursday for the opening match against Italy.
The list of absentees for the game in Rome on February 4 grew on Wednesday as Wasps flanker James Haskell was banned or four weeks for a dangerous tackle on Jamie Roberts. Jones had already lost wing Elliot Daly, number eights Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes, and props Ellis Genge and Matt Mullan to injury, while Harlequins prop Joe Marler will miss the fixtures against Italy and Wales through suspension.
There is also a doubt over full-back Mike Brown who left the field with blurred vision during Harlequins’ Champions Cup victory against Wasps, but wing Jack Nowell is expected to recover from an ankle injury. There remains no space in Jones’ plan for Nowell’s Exeter teammate Don Armand, the in-form back row in the Premiership.
Saracens, meanwhile, have confirmed that Billy Vunipola will be out for between "six and 10 weeks" but will not require surgery for the broken arm he suffered during the 15-15 draw against Ospreys.
If many of those absences are enforced, Jones has voluntarily allowed Tuilagi to build up his fitness and form at Leicester Tigers. Long an object of fascination for Jones off the back of his barnstorming performance against New Zealand in 2012, the 26 year-old is just four games into the eighth comeback of a truncated career. His last start for England came in 2014.
