England Announcement - Hot Off The Press

This morning Stuart Lancaster announced his England Senior Training Squad and England Saxons Squad prior to the first RBS 6 Nations match versus Wales and the Saxons fixture against the Irish Wolfhounds. If you look across the list of names there are some familiar ones; Chris Robshaw will captain the side throughout the tournament and no less than 6 British and Irish Lions return to add to our embarrassment of riches up front; Alex Corbisiero, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Tom Youngs, Mako Vunipola and Tom Croft as a Saxon. There are some 'new' names that enter the fray, Stuart's hand has undoubtedly been guided by injuries to key men; Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and notably Ben Morgan however the inclusion of Nick Easter, Geoff Parling and Graham Kitchener are of course welcome. 

The Saxons squad showcases the wealth of talent that our country houses and contains men that have been really pushing their own causes hard in the first thirteen rounds of the Aviva Premiership and five rounds of Europe. The headlines obviously will focus around the immediate inclusion of Sam Burgess however if you look into the depth of the squad you will see some new names including Ollie Devoto, Ross Harrison and Maro Itoje. 

58 names form part of this announcement, naturally following a colossal final weekend in Europe there could be changes due to injuries however we pray to the rugby gods that these are minimal to non-existent. 

Now it is time to digest the list below and a full Out On The Full England Spotlight will be coming later, including Stuart and his team's insight on their selection decisions, rationale and expectations for the forthcoming tournament. 

England Senior Training Squad

Forwards; Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)  Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)  Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) Alex Corbisiero (Northampton Saints) Nick Easter (Harlequins) Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)  James Haskell (Wasps) Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers) George Kruis (Saracens)  Joe Marler (Harlequins)  Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers) Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, Captain)  Billy Vunipola (Saracens)  Mako Vunipola (Saracens)  David Wilson (Bath Rugby) Tom Wood (Northampton Saints) Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)    

Backs; Brad Barritt (Saracens)  Mike Brown (Harlequins)  Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints) Danny Care (Harlequins)  Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks) Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby) Owen Farrell (Saracens)  George Ford (Bath Rugby)  Alex Goode (Saracens)  Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby) Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)  Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)  Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)  Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby) Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby) Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens) Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)  

England Saxons Squad

Forwards; Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons) Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers) Christian Day (Northampton Saints)   Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs) Dave Ewers (Exeter Chiefs) Matt Garvey (Bath Rugby) Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks) Maro Itoje (Saracens) Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby) Matt Mullan (Wasps)  Henry Thomas (Bath Rugby) Thomas Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs) Alex Waller (Northampton Saints) Rob Webber (Bath Rugby)

Backs; Chris Ashton (Saracens) Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby) Elliot Daly (Wasps) Ollie Devoto (Bath Rugby) Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints, Captain) Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors) Joe Simpson (Wasps)  Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) Marland Yarde (Harlequins) Christian Wade (Wasps)