England squad: Steve Borthwick selects SEVEN from Premiership winners Bath including breakout star but Henry Arundell axed
England head coach Steve Borthwick and Bath flanker Guy Pepper.
England head coach Steve Borthwick has announced his squad ahead of the game against a France XV and the tour to the Americas.
While there could be changes following Saturday’s clash, this will likely be the bulk of the squad that will head across the Atlantic to face Argentina and the USA when it is named next week.
Players from the two Premiership finalists, Bath and Leicester Tigers, have been added, with the headline selection being youngster Guy Pepper.
The hugely talented openside has been a standout for the West Country outfit and played a key role in their league success, starring against Bristol Bears and Leicester in the play-off matches.
Bath call-ups
Pepper is joined in the squad by team-mates Sam Underhill, who has been serving a four-match suspension, Charlie Ewels, Ted Hill, Will Muir, Max Ojomoh and Ben Spencer.
Alfie Barbeary has not been considered, however, with Tom Dunn, Miles Reid, Joe Cokanasiga and future Bath player Henry Arundell also not picked by Borthwick.
Arundell was called up to a training camp last week, but the wing has not been selected in this 36 by Borthwick.
Meanwhile, Leicester will be represented by Joe Heyes, Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet.
Flying wing Adam Radwan is perhaps unfortunate to miss out following his fine form in the second half of the season, but England have plenty of depth in the wing slots.
Muir’s aerial game was impressive in the final and he, alongside Murley, cover the left-wing spots, while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Roebuck will compete for a place on the right.
Of those to drop out following the group that was named last week, Richard Capstick, Afolabi Fasogbon, George Kloska, Tom Lockett, Gabriel Oghre and Tom Pearson are the forwards who have been omitted.
In the backline, Charlie Bracken, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Will Porter are the unfortunate ones to miss out.
Others who were named last week but are currently rehabilitating are Ben Curry and Fraser Dingwall, while Harry Randall and George Furbank are also on that list.
Meanwhile, Joe Batley, Ollie Lawrence, Alex Lozowski, George Martin and Ollie Sleightholme have not been considered for selection due to injury.
England’s 36-man squad for mid-year series
Forwards: Fin Baxter, Arthur Clark, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-South, Theo Dan, Trevor Davison, Alex Dombrandt, Charlie Ewels, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Ted Hill, Nick Isiekwe, Manny Iyogun, Jack Kenningham, Curtis Langdon, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Guy Pepper, Bevan Rodd, Sam Underhill, Tom Willis
Backs: Charlie Atkinson, Seb Atkinson, Oscar Beard, Joe Carpenter, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Will Muir, Cadan Murley, Luke Northmore, Max Ojomoh, Raffi Quirke, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet
