By Matt Hardy
Eddie Jones has overhauled around a third of his squad for the Autumn Nations Cup as the England head coach looks to add to the depth of his team ahead of next year’s World Cup.
November will see England play three of the southern hemisphere’s big four – Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as Japan – and Jones, who is entering his final 12 months as England coach, intends to treat the coming weeks as a miniature World Cup.
“We’ve picked a strong squad of 36 players, the latest count was that we’ve got 30 per cent missing from the Australian tour so we’re really building some good depth 12 months out from the World Cup,” Jones said.
“We want to make sure we keep moving the team forward. We want to generate competition in the team because that will drive better performance and as you see from this squad we have a nice balance between some very good experienced players and some young guys coming through. So we want to continue that evolution of the team we started on the Australian tour.
“There’s a number of disappointed players who have been left out, their job is to go back to their club and play so they have to be selected. They all know what they’ve got to do.”
Among those excluded are former Worcester and current Bath centre Ollie Lawrence, Exeter’s Henry Slade, scrum-half Danny Care and Harlequins team-mate Joe Marchant – who is rumoured to be heading to Paris next year.
Exeter prop Patrick Schickerling is also out of the 36-man squad due to uncertainty over his eligibility – the former Namibian age grade player is the subject of enquiries from England to World Rugby over rules that may apply to him.
Included in the squad are five uncapped players , including Gloucester prop Val Rapava Ruskin, Northampton Saints duo Alex Coles and David Ribbans, and Quins winger Cadan Murley.
Kyle Sinckler and Max Malins have also been recalled to the national set up after the duo were excluded from the summer’s series victory Down Under.
“I’ve been watching him [Murley] quite closely,” Jones added. “He’s got the ability to finish, he’s a good strong player, he’s improved his capacity to win the ball in the air, and certainly deserves an opportunity to see what he can do at the next level.
“Max is a very good attacking player and he’s worked a little bit on his work off the ball. Sincks had a bad back injury and it took him a while to come back. Now his last game was closer to what we know, but there’s still plenty to go there.”
With Wasps now in administration, back row Jack Willis is without a club. Jones insisted there’s still a place for the flanker, however.
“[Willis’ position] won’t impact us,” Jones said. “We can only control what we can control and Jack can only control what he can control so the big thing for him is to prepare like an international player. We’re working with him to get him in the right position.”
Amid the crisis in the Premiership, international rugby is on the horizon. And among all of the chat surrounding the future of the sport in England, Jones and his side will want to use this period to put down a marker ahead of the World Cup in 12 months’ time.
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