Chiefs trio to tour Australia

By Mark Stevens
22/5/2016

Exeter Chiefs trio Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell and Henry Slade have all been named in Eddie Jones' England squad for their upcoming three-Test tour to Australia.

The 32-man squad to tour Australia, which begins at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday 11 June, includes four uncapped players. Worcester Warriors’ centre Ben Te’o and Northampton Saints’ back-row forward Teimana Harrison are included, as well as 21 year-old Leicester Tigers loose-head prop Ellis Genge and Harlequins tight-head prop Kyle Sinckler.

Slade, meanwhile, returns to the international picture having been unavailable for selection for the RBS 6 Nations through injury.

As well as the Australia squad, Jones has named a 26-man squad to play Wales for the Old Mutual Wealth Cup at Twickenham on Sunday 29 May.  It does not include players from Saracens and Exeter Chiefs who compete for the Aviva Premiership title the day before.

“We have selected two squads of players who can win all four games,” said England head coach Jones. “It’s important we get off to a good start against Wales and play positive rugby and win.

“We are excited to being touring Australia in June. To beat the Wallabies in Australia you have to play a physical, aggressive brand of rugby and that’s what we intend to do. We will need to be a fit, cohesive, tactically flexible team and play with a high intensity. We have to be in their faces from the first minute of the first Test.”

“But we are in no doubt of the challenge we face. England have only ever won three Tests in Australia and never won in Brisbane, so it is a great opportunity for us to create new history.

“We are still a young squad with an average age of 24 so this will be a big learning experience. This will be the first time many of the players will have toured Australia so there’s no historical baggage there and mentally we’ll be in a good place off the back of the RBS 6 Nations.

“The Grand Slam was just the start of our journey. We’re ranked fourth in the world and are still developing our identity and we have a long way to go to get to where we ultimately want to be. This tour will provide a good chance for us to measure up to the southern hemisphere and try to close that gap.

“Australia are the second-ranked team in the world and their coach is the World Rugby coach of the year, so their supporters will expect a positive result from them. We will upset the apple cart.”

“Dylan Hartley will lead the side again having captained the team excellently during the RBS 6 Nations and during our recent training camp to Brighton.”

England Senior 32-man squad for Australia tour

Forwards

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
Jack Clifford (Harlequins)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints)
Dylan Hartley – captain (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Paul Hill (Northampton Saints)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Wasps)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) 
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Marland Yarde (Harlequins)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)