Alex Dombrandt recalled to England squad for Scotland clash

Alex Dombrandt has been recalled to Steve Borthwick’s initial 36-man squad ahead of England’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Harlequins No.8 underlined his return to fitness on Sunday with an impressive try-scoring performance in his side’s narrow defeat to Saracens in the Premiership Cup.

Dombrandt has won 20 caps for England, 11 as a replacement, but hasn’t appeared for his country since the Autumn Nations Series defeat to South Africa.

Northampton duo, Alex Coles and Henry Pollock are also added to the squad, while Saints team-mate Curtis Langdon and Saracens’ Alex Lozowski are the ones to drop out.

Forwards Tom Curry and George Martin are both included having trained away from the main group after picking up minor injuries in the wake of the 26-25 win over France.

England head into the Calcutta Cup clash looking to keep alive their title hopes after bouncing back from their 27-22 round one defeat to reigning champions Ireland.

Gregor Townsend’s men, who have won the last four Calcutta Cup matches, will start in a similar position having fallen to defeat against the Irish following their opening win over Italy.

Forwards:
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Tom Willis (Saracens)

Backs:
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)