Thursday 20 April 2017

England Touring Squad Announcement

Eddie Jones Names His Argentina Touring Squad

Eddie Jones has named his 31 man touring squad for England's summer tour to Argentina. In an unexpected but exciting twist, he's named 15 uncapped players with 6 out of 17 forwards and an astonishing 9 out of 14 backs.

Lion's collaterals Joe Launchbury, James Haskell, Chris Robshaw, George Ford and Mike Brown are joined by captain Dylan Hartley on the tour and make up the bulk of the senior players (and vice-captains). This is how the squad looks:

Prop:
Will Collier (Harlequins) - uncapped
Harry Williams (Exeter) - uncapped
Ellis Genge (Leicester)
Paul Hill (Northampton)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)

Hooker:
Dylan Hartley (Northampton) - Captain
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter)

Second-Row:
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Charlie Ewels (Bath)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens) - uncapped

Back Row:
James Haskell (Wasps)
Nathan Hughes (Wasps)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Tom Wood (Northampton)
Ben Curry (Sale) - uncapped
Tom Curry (Sale) - uncapped
Sam Underhill (Bath) - uncapped

Scrum Half:
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Jack Maunder (Exeter) - uncapped

Fly Half:
George Ford (Bath)
Piers Francis (Northampton) - uncapped

Centre:
Henry Slade (Exeter)
Sam James (Saracens) - uncapped
Joe Marchant (Harlequins) - uncapped
Harry Mallinder (Northampton) - uncapped

Wing:
Jonny May (Gloucester)
Denny Solomona (Sale) - uncapped
Joe Cokanasiga (Leicester) - uncapped
Nathan Earle (Saracens) - uncapped

Full Back:
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Alex Lozowski (Saracens) - uncapped

There's no doubt he's taking full advantage of the opportunity to blood some of the young up-and-comers with a view to creating even more strength in depth in lieu of the 2019 world cup, and it looks set to be an exciting campaign. Sadly this leaves no room for experienced hopeful's Cipriani, Wade and Rokoduguni, but doors are definitely opening for some the exceptional talent that seems to pouring in from the under 20's setup of recent years - a great example of which is our very own Maro Itoje. A few more like him would be great Eddie!

Is it wrong (with such a strong Lions contingent from the England setup) to be marginally more excited about the Argentina tour? Who cares, between the two tours its set to be a cracking summer of international rugby - no holidays for me!!!


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