Former Stormer gets another shot at the England jersey
NEWS: South African-born lock David Ribbans has been called up to join the England squad for a five-day camp.
He will be joined by the veteran Tom Dunn after Courtney Lawes (calf) and George McGuigan (knee) had to withdraw through injury.
Ribbans spent most of his rugby development at Western Province and in 2016 he was named Western Province’s young forward of the year as well as being included in the Stormers Super Rugby squad that year.
He went on to join Northampton Saints in 2017 and his progress at Franklin’s Gardens saw the English-qualified second-row receive a first senior call-up to a training squad in October 2020.
Dunn returns to the England squad after he first caught the eye of former England coach Eddie Jones during the opening half of the 2017/18 season and was included in the 35-man squad ahead of the 2018 Six Nations.
He was part of the training squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and was named on the bench for England’s second 2020 Six Nations match against Scotland.
The 36-player England squad will join up at the England Rugby Performance Centre at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot for a five-day camp on Monday.
This is in preparation for their first fixture in the historic Calcutta Cup tie against Scotland at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 4 February.