Stuart Lancaster has added a further 21 players to his already twenty-man strong England training squad ahead of England’s game against the Barbarians on the 1st June and the subsequent tour of New Zealand.
Eighteen of the additional twenty-one players are from Leicester Tigers and Harlequins after they lost their Aviva Premiership semi finals this weekend, with Sale Sharks’ James Gaskell and Ross Harrison also included, most likely for involvement against the Barbarians, while Bath’s Rob Webber is also brought in as England seek to aid his recovery from injury ahead of a potential hooking crisis in New Zealand with Tom Youngs unable to tour for family reasons and Dylan Hartley still struggling to recover from injury in time.
That hooking crisis is reflected in Lancaster’s training squad selection, which sees all three Harlequins hookers, Rob Buchanan, Dave Ward, and Joe Gray, included in a squad that already contains Exeter Chiefs’ Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sale Sharks’ Tommy Taylor, as well as the recovering Webber.
Eight other Harlequins players are also included, notably Harlequins and England captain Chris Robshaw. Robshaw’s back for partner Luke Wallace is also included as are the front row trio of Kyle Sinkler, Will Collier, and Joe Marler.
Second row Charlie Matthews is the ninth Harlequins forward in the squad, but there is room for just two of the Quins backline, two of the stars of England’s Six Nations campaign – Danny Care and Mike Brown, Brown is expected to be fit despite picking up an injury against Saracens on Saturday.
Seven Leicester Tigers complete the squad, the centre pairing of Anthony Allen and Manu Tuilagi are together in an England squad again, while Ben Youngs will look to regain the England number 9 shirt.
Geoff Parling is also back in England contention after a long injury lay off and his second row club teammates and rivals, Ed Slater and George Kitchener join him in the squad along with Jamie Gibson in the back row.
The additional members of the training squad will meet up with the previously selected 20 players, that includes the likes of Danny Cipriani, Ben Morgan, and Marland Yarde at the Lensbury Club near Teddington on Wednesday evening.
Players from Saracens, Northampton Saints, Bath, and London Wasps have still not been considered for selection as they still have club commitments. Bath and Northampton Saints both play in Friday’s Amlin Cup final, while London Wasps have the second leg of their European Champions Cup play off on Saturday and Saracens play Toulon in the Heineken Cup final later that day.
Players from Bath and London Wasps will then be available for selection, however Saints and Saracens players will still be unavailable as they have the Aviva Premiership Final of the 31st May, ruling them out of England’s fixture against the Barbarians the following day and out of the first Test against the All Blacks the following week.
Stuart Lancaster explained though that the squad for the Barbarians game and the New Zealand tour will be named at midday on Monday, following the conclusion of this weekend’s European action.
Players added to England training squad
Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers) – Centre
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
- Full Back
Ross Buchanan (Harlequins)
- Hooker
Danny Care (Harlequins)
- Scrum Half
Will Collier (Harlequins)
- Prop
James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
- Back Row/Second Row
Jamie Gibson (Leicester Tigers) – Flanker
Joe Gray (Harlequins)
- Hooker
Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks)
- Prop
Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers)
- Second Row
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
- Loosehead
Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)
- Second Row
Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
- Second Row
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
- Flanker
Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers)
- Second Row
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
- Prop
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
- Centre
Luke Wallace (Harlequins)
- Flanker
Dave Ward (Harlequins)
- Hooker
Rob Webber (Bath Rugby)
- Hooker
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) – Scrum Half
England Training Squad:
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons) – Loosehead
Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby) – Fly Half
Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks) – Fly Half
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs) – Hooker
Dave Ewers (Exeter Chiefs) – Back Row
Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs) – Centre
Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs) – Back Row
Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby) – Openside
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby) – Wing
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby) – Number 8
Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks) – Second Row
Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors) – Full Back
Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby) – Scrum Half
Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) – Wing
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) – Fly Half
Tommy Taylor (Sale Sharks) – Hooker
Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks) – Tighthead
Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby)
- Centre
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby) – Centre
Marland Yarde (London Irish) – Wing
England Fixtures:
Barbarians – Twickenham, Sunday 1st June
New Zealand – Saturday 7th June
New Zealand – Saturday 14th June
Crusaders – Tuesday 17th June
New Zealand – Saturday 21st June
