Six Nations 2020: England call up eight uncapped players

Back row Ben Earl is one of seven Saracens players named in the England squad

England head coach Eddie Jones has named eight uncapped players in his 34-man squad for the Six Nations.

Northampton lock Alex Moon, centre Fraser Dingwall and full-back George Furbank, along with Bath prop Will Stuart and Wasps fly-half Jacob Umaga, receive their first senior call-ups.

Hooker Tom Dunn, flanker Ben Earl and wing Ollie Thorley are also named.

Exeter wing Jack Nowell and number eight Billy Vunipola both miss out through injury.

England open their campaign against France on Sunday, 2 February.

Six Nations 'a sanctuary' - Jones expects Saracens players to shine

"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," Jones said.

Jones has selected 22 of the squad that reached the Rugby World Cup final.

Ten men who were involved in Japan have not been included: number eight Vunipola, centres Henry Slade and Piers Francis and wing Joe Cokanasiga are all unavailable because of injury, while Dan Cole, Jack Singleton, Ben Spencer and Ruaridh McConnochie have not been picked.

Mark Wilson has only just returned from a long-term injury, while it is understood Nowell needs surgery on his recurring ankle problem.

While Jones has named five back-row forwards in the group - including young Worcester flanker Ted Hill - there is no specialist number eight following Vunipola's injury.

Nathan Hughes is again surplus to requirements, while Harlequins' Alex Dombrandt has been overlooked.

England will assemble at their Bagshot base on Wednesday and travel to Portugal for a warm-weather camp on Thursday before their first match in Paris.

Meanwhile, England assistant coach Steve Borthwick has confirmed he will leave his role at the end of the season, with Melbourne Storm assistant Jason Ryles joining in November.

England Six Nations squad

Forwards:

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 21 caps), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 19 caps), Tom Dunn (Bath, uncapped), Ben Earl (Saracens, uncapped), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 12 caps), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps), Jamie George (Saracens, 45 caps), Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors, 1 cap), Maro Itoje (Saracens, 34 caps), George Kruis (Saracens, 41 caps), Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 62 caps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 81 caps), Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 6 caps), Joe Marler (Harlequins, 68 caps), Alex Moon (Northampton Saints, uncapped), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 31 caps), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, uncapped), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 15 caps), Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 58 caps), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)

Backs:

Elliot Daly (Saracens, 39 caps), Ollie Devoto (Exeter Chiefs, 1 cap), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints, uncapped), Owen Farrell (Saracens, 79 caps), George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 65 caps), George Furbank (Northampton Saints, uncapped), Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, 9 caps), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 47 caps), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 52 caps), Ollie Thorley (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 40 caps), Jacob Umaga (Wasps, uncapped), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 42 caps), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 95 caps)

Apprentice players:

Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, uncapped), Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)

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556 comments

Comment posted by Blott, at 12:15 20 Jan 2020
No specialist no.8 ? As a Welshman I’m stumped as to why Dombrant hasn’t been picked ? Bizarre

And 2 old scrum halves, Young’s & Heinz ! Heinz is never a test quality player
Comment posted by barry_toon, at 12:24 20 Jan 2020
Listing a squad alphabetically is stupid. List the squad by their positions please!
Comment posted by Jon beeb, at 12:28 20 Jan 2020
I cant believe no:
Dombrandt
S Simmonds
J Simmonds
J Maunder
J Hill

Exe are top and seemed to be ignored. Can't understand it.
Comment posted by Mange Tout Rodney, at 12:10 20 Jan 2020
Where are all the Exeter players?
Comment posted by OceanSailor, at 12:19 20 Jan 2020
No Sam Simmonds, or Alex Dombrandt, both who have been playing superbly. Personally I would have picked Simmonds, but no recognised number 8 does seem strange.
Comment posted by Glod Glodson, at 12:15 20 Jan 2020
England have got to freshen up the scrumhalf options
Comment posted by ben, at 12:24 20 Jan 2020
Nowell is having ankle surgery. Should include that in the article.
Comment posted by GM Massingbird, at 12:38 20 Jan 2020
Can't wait for punditry to get stuck in.

"England outplayed in the world cup final."
"England, not gotten over the world cup final."
"Take years to recover from the world cup final."
"England, outclassed in the world cup final."

The only game they will have played, will be the world cup final. They certainly didn't beat Australia or New Zealand, these matches never happened.
Comment posted by traveller_chris, at 12:51 20 Jan 2020
Can I just point out that Nowell, Cipriani and Watson are injured and therefore unavailable for selection!

However I'm very disappointed with the options at 8 and 9. Youngs is well past it and has been for a while, Heinz isn't even the best SH at Gloucester. What do Simmonds and Dombrandt have to do to get in the squad. They are the form 8's.
Comment posted by charlieboy, at 12:16 20 Jan 2020
@19. That is silly and unfair. It’s the club who has been cheating, not the players. Just cutting nose off to spite face.

You pick the best team and squad possible. You cannot punish the Saracens players, plus the England team, because of Saracens management dodgy practices.
Comment posted by D1679144603334, at 12:20 20 Jan 2020
Alex Dombrandt is pretty much a like for like replacement for Billy V. Utterly baffling that he's been ignored.
Comment posted by KingofAbertawe, at 12:41 20 Jan 2020
wow,

so many ignorant contributors who don't even know who is injured. Do you guys actually watch the prem, or just come on here to whinge every time EJ selects a squad.
Comment posted by David, at 12:10 20 Jan 2020
Dan Cole was woefully out of his depth in his last outing. Inevitable and this smacks of “the planning starts now for the next World Cup”.
Comment posted by Harleking, at 12:41 20 Jan 2020
How can you leave Dombrandt out? Consistently Harlequins' best player, he was outstanding at the weekend against a very strong Clermont side, many of which will be playing against England in a couple of weeks

Also, surely now is the time to bring in a scrum half for the next world cup.
Comment posted by Logical reasoning , at 12:24 20 Jan 2020
Surely now is a great time to bring in a new 9 and find a new 8 to back up Billy considering he is quite injury prone. Seems a bit bizarre to say the least.
Comment posted by cc82, at 12:10 20 Jan 2020
Can't believe the lack of out and out number 8s. Seems a very imbalanced set of forwards. But still, an extremely talented group of players who will be hard to beat.
Comment posted by SanPedroEagle, at 13:07 20 Jan 2020
Terrible decisions at scrum half and No 8. I am of the opinion that we got to the world cup final despite Eddie Jones not because of him, a la Brian Ashton in 2007. Perfect time to start getting good prospects into the squad rather than the same old players. Leicester are the worst side in the premiership at the moment and are supplying 5 players while Exeter are on fire and have 3. Puzzling.
Comment posted by litoga, at 12:50 20 Jan 2020
The highest rated comment on here is where is Jack Nowell!! guys yoou should know why he is omitted come on!!
Comment posted by Richard, at 12:10 20 Jan 2020
Number 8s are optional it seems? Hmmm...
Comment posted by Sean, at 12:19 20 Jan 2020
Has he forgotten he needs a Number 8? No Simmons, Harrison, Dombrandt, Vunipola out..