England: Ollie Lawrence boost for Steve Borthwick but no place in squad for Owen Farrell

England head coach Steve Borthwick has announced a 36-player squad for a three-day training camp ahead of the upcoming Autumn Nations Series.

The squad will assemble on Sunday, September 14, with training taking place at England’s Performance Centre in Pennyhill Park and at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

The big news is the return of Bath centre Ollie Lawrence after he spent six months on the sidelines due to an Achilles injury.

The 25-year-old sustained his injury while on Test duty during England‘s 47-24 victory over Italy in the Six Nations earlier this year.

Ruled out of British and Irish Lions

The Bath stalwart was in excellent form at the time but his injury ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions’ tour to Australia.

Lawrence was set to be sidelined until December but Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan revealed in June that the player was “ahead of schedule” for his return to action.

Van Graan confirmed that Lawrence is in “great shape” and possibly set for an earlier return than first thought and that has now become true after he was called up to Borthwick’s squad.

“I’m not going to make any predictions because it’s such a big injury,” said Van Graan at the time. “We’ll take our time with him, but what I will say is he’s in great physical shape; you can see he’s in the gym a lot.

“Ollie is a great professional, and he’s been ultra-professional when it comes to this and doing everything he possibly can.

“If there were a schedule, I would say he’s ahead of it. We’re very happy with him and the national team are very happy with him, he’s one of their best players so there’s been good dialogue.”

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Since then, Lawrence made his return to action for Bath during a 28-28 draw with Munster during their pre-season friendly on Friday.

Maro Itoje not selected for the training camp

Meanwhile, England and British and Irish Lions skipper Maro Itoje will not be part of England’s training camp as he goes through a managed return from a concussion suffered in the final Lions Test against the Wallabies in Sydney on August 2.

Owen Farrell is another big name player who was not included in the 36-man squad after he rejoined Saracens from Top 14 outfit Racing 92.

The 33-year-old former England skipper became eligible for a recall due to his return to the Premiership with Sarries but Borthwick has opted for George Ford, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith as his fly-halves while Lawrence, Seb Atkinson and Fraser Dingwall are the options at inside centre.

Farrell said recently that he is focusing on playing his best rugby for the North London club before thinking about a potential England return.

England welcome Australia to Twickenham on November 1 (kick-off 3.10pm) for their first match of an Autumn Nations Series where they also play Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina.

England squad

Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Ben Earl (Saracens), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Ted Hill (Bath Rugby), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Tom Willis (Saracens)

Backs: Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), George Furbank (Northampton Saints), Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Will Muir (Bath Rugby), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)

Rehabilitation: Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby), Maro Itoje (Saracens)

Not considered for selection: Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Luke Northmore (Harlequins), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)

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