Jones names eight uncapped players
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: England coach Eddie Jones has named his 34-man squad for the 2020 Six Nations.
Jones has included 22 players who played at the 2019 World Cup in Japan last year and eight uncapped players.
Of those uncapped players Tom Dunn, Ben Earl and Ollie Thorley have been involved in previous England squads – while Fraser Dingwall, George Furbank, Alex Moon, Will Stuart and Jacob Umaga are called up for the first time.
In addition to the 34 players, Josh Hodge, who plays in the Championship, and Alex Mitchell have been called up as apprentices and will only train with the squad.
England are set to be without the services of star loose forward Billy Vunipola for a substantial portion of the Six Nations.
There veteran No.8 has suffered an arm fracture in Saracens’ 27-24 win over Racing 92 in a European Cup Round Six match at the weekend.
“The Six Nations for us is all about raising the standards in terms of the way we prepare, tactically and physically how we play the game, and the way we come together off the field,” Jones said.
“But our first task is beating France in France and that is the only game we need to worry about. We will begin our preparations in Portugal, get a bit of sun, some warm conditions and get ourselves physically and mentally right for the game.
“The first three days will be about getting organised. We have got players from 11 clubs so we need to get everyone on the same page quickly, spend a lot of time working on our togetherness and then by Tuesday next week we are in Test preparation for France.”
On his selection Jones said: “It is always about winning the next game so we have picked the best squad available. At the same time we wanted to bring some young players in because we need to keep building our depth so for those new players it is an exciting opportunity for them.”
England will assemble at Pennyhill Park on Wednesday and travel to Portugal on Thursday ahead of their first match against France in Paris on Sunday 2nd February.
Last week Jones’ coaching staff were confirmed for the Six Nations with attack coach Simon Amor and forwards coach Matt Proudfoot joining defence coach John Mitchell and skills coach Steve Borthwick.
England squad
Forwards: Luke Cowan-, Tom Curry, Tom Dunn, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Ted Hill, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Joe Marler, Alex Moon, Kyle Sinckler, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill, Mako Vunipola, Harry Williams.
Backs: Elliot Daly, Ollie Devoto, Fraser Dingwall, Owen Farrell, George Ford, George Furbank, Willi Heinz, Jonathan Joseph, Jonny May, Ollie Thorley, Manu Tuilagi, Jacob Umaga, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs.
Apprentice players: Alex Mitchell, Josh Hodge
