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Autumn Nations Series

Asher Opoku-Fordjour called up as England make two squad changes

Sale's Asher Opoku-Fordjour has been called up by Steve Borthwick's England (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Recent World Rugby U20 Championship title winner Asher Opoku-Fordjour has been named as Joe Marler’s replacement in the England Autumn Nations Series squad. The 34-year-old Marler, who left camp at Pennyhill last Monday night, announced his Test level retirement on Sunday morning.

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The Harlequins prop took the decision to call it quits following a week where he caused uproar with his social media comments about the New Zealand haka, initially branding it ridiculous and calling for it to be binned before eventually apologising.

A starter in the July 6 loss to New Zealand in Dunedin, Marler returned from breaking his foot in that match to gain selection in Steve Borthwick’s autumn squad. He travelled to Spain for the warm-weather training camp in Girona but left the squad for personal reasons this past week after they had completed their Monday training at Pennyhill.

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Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – the hype is real

Sizzle reel for England and Exeter star, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

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Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – the hype is real

Sizzle reel for England and Exeter star, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

Marler’s retirement has now opened up a spot for Opoku-Fordjour, the Sale prop who has been packing down at tighthead for the Sharks following his July World Cup triumph with the England U20s at their starting loosehead.

During the age-grade tournament in South Africa, Opoku-Fordjour spoke to RugbyPass about his Test-level ambitions, and he now comes into Borthwick’s squad of 36 as one of two changes following Saturday’s 22-24 series opening loss to New Zealand.

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The other alteration ahead of the visit of the Wallabies to Allianz Stadium is also in the forwards, with Charlie Ewels recalled at the expense of his Bath club colleague Ted Hill. Ewels, the injured Ollie Chessum and Tom Roebuck were omitted last Sunday when Borthwick issued his previous squad update ahead of the All Blacks week, with Hill, Alex Coles and George Ford coming in.

An RFU statement on the latest England squad read: “Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks) and Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) have been called up to England’s 36-player squad, replacing Joe Marler (Harlequins) and Ted Hill (Bath Rugby) as preparations begin for the upcoming Test match against Australia at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday, November 9.”

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England squad (vs Australia)
Forwards (20)
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Dan Cole (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)
Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)

Backs (16):
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Alex Lozowski (Saracens)
Luke Northmore (Harlequins)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)

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Comments

4 Comments
M
Mr Easy 28 days ago

Ewels for the red card hatrick

C
CM 28 days ago

SB ignores better players and they are only given a chance through retirement or injuries. I question SBs eyesight. Ewels, this must be a joke!

B
BH 28 days ago

Charlie Ewels to replace Ted Hill... Jesus wept

B
Bob Salad II 28 days ago

No brainer really given Marler’s departure. With South Africa the week after, England absolutely have to give him a try against Australia.

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Comments on RugbyPass

A
AS 20 minutes ago
Spain sink All Blacks Sevens again to qualify for first SVNS Series Final

Probably the only good part of this weekends results. How if Fiji finish 1st Spain second did NZ go through to the QF. There are 4 groups yes? So top 2 go through.

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J
JW 20 minutes ago
Owen Farrell's Lions chances have nose-dived

What a stupid rule, not being eligible for the national team due to the club side you play for. You'd think the English would scrap it like the Boks did considering the state they are in.

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M
Matt Perry 33 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

This isn't a particularly fair assessment of Ireland's squad makeup. It's true that in the most recent 37-player squad, they had eight (8) players born outside of Ireland.


However, of those:


- One has an Irish mother, was born in London, and has lived in Ireland since age 6 (Izuchukwu).

- One has Irish parents, was born in the USA, and has lived in Ireland since age 3 (J. McCarthy).

- One was born in Australia to Irish parents and has lived in Ireland since age 3 (Frawley).

- One has been an Irish citizen his entire life (Hansen).


So we've only got four or five (depending on how pedantic you want to be about Mack Hansen) people in the team that the average Irish person wouldn't immediately consider to be Irish - the remaining "foreign-born" players all grew up in Ireland, have significant Irish ancestry, and are culturally Irish - most relevant to this discussion, they played all their age-grade rugby in Ireland and came up in the IRFU system.


It just so happens that Gibson-Park, Lowe, and Aki are three of the true foreign-born players. As three of Ireland's most important players, this massively overemphasises the role overseas players play in the Irish squad.


Ireland are a far cry from Scotland.

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R
RedWarrior 34 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Losing key coaches will do that. Back to where they were before they employed Felix Jones basically.

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 35 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

For all RWC games

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 36 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Scotland have been continually shafted.

Because RWC 2013 draw was based on 2019 rankings Scotland were ranked 9th, and landed the nightmare scenario of 2 top 4 teams in the pool and having to play another top 4 in the quarter (even though Scotland were then ranked 5th). The great Scottish play between 2019 and 2023 counted for ZERO. Disgraceful.

This they did not progress from the pool in 2023, got stung in the rankings.

Scotland must be in the Top 6 in Dec 2025 to be in the seeding band 1. The victory over Australia was huge in this regard.

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 40 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

He is saying you count the aggregation of all results as relevant for the rankings. Please do so. If you have an issue with how the rankings are calculated then state what it is.

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W
WW 41 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Be that as it may for that particular match, having 8 foreign nationals to choose from is a bit steep.

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R
RedWarrior 41 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

No lucky recent wins mate. A couple of tight matches including against a team that beat SA and NZ this year. Apart from the scoreboard the dominant team in these matches were Ireland.

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 44 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

NZ lost 4 times this year. Ireland won in Durban. The rankings reflect all the results. Ireland got zero points for beating Australia. Are you arguing they should be deducted points for beating Australia?

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R
RedWarrior 46 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Ireland got Zero ranking points for beating Australia. Ireland's position is exactly where it should be.

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 47 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Rubbish. One foreign BORN national started in the match where Ireland won in Durban.

38 Go to comments
R
RedWarrior 50 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

The attack has deteriorated. That's the red light. New attack coach in Ireland and Lancaster gone from Leinster. This has impacted. Paul O'Connell must go as Forwards coach. The line out has been a disaster since before the RWC. Lost out first 5 in the pool vs SA. Lost a load against New Zealand in the QF.

The dominant Ireland display in Durban shows the potential i the upcoming players.

Ireland should have been out the door and gone in that match. Good character to win in the end, but it wasn't a last gasp lucky win.

If Ireland get the lineout platform sorted it will make a major difference. We may need a couple of new coaches.

I think people are starting to realize what a great great no 10 Sexton was. Crowley and Casey made a clear difference when introduced. JGP seems to have lost a second at rucks.

38 Go to comments
W
WW 54 minutes ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Although I enjoy watching the Irish play, they have too many foreign nationals in the team for me to really think it's an Irish side. I love them stirring the pot with the top tier teams,, no longer a walk in the park.

38 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
All Blacks report card: Are Razor's troops heading in the right direction?

Look De Allende is a great partner center, but I am certainly raising the bar above his level.


If you want to look at it another way, solely regarding useful size, he is the right weight for his height. For instance Bundee Aki is no heavier despite being a powerhouse. If Barrett wants to have the same sort of physical leverage in contact he has to make is weight as comparble to his frame as De Allende and Aki's is.


It's simple the old adage of 'a low center of gravity' played out in physics.

316 Go to comments
J
JE 1 hour ago
Jake White: Be warned All Blacks, you risk setting a dangerous precedent

And I like the SA boys coming back from their mercenary work abroad and feeding that IP into the SA system. I don't care that much if the Irish or Scottish jersey is for sale. I would however be a bit embarrassed if I was one of those European countries.

65 Go to comments
D
DV 1 hour ago
Seven Springboks make World Rugby men’s 15s dream team of the year

That's a good question. My response is that it combines collective strategic and tactical planning with cohesive team play in execution. That can only come from leadership on all levels and an attitude of not only winning by scoring the most points but also to be winners in serving their country and each other.

52 Go to comments
J
J Marc 1 hour ago
Owen Farrell's Lions chances have nose-dived

I think you forgot Tedder. But now Lancaster play and Gibert is most of time on the bench. Lancaster level is currently abyssal, his yellow card for diving on a player on the ground was a great moment, saturday.

And before his injury, Farrell was a ghost on the pitch.

5 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
All Blacks report card: Are Razor's troops heading in the right direction?

I see you're angle now. To answer whether it was "better" that is my own opinion.


As regards to SCs point that the performance has more weight than it would at SR level, that depends on a whole lot of other aspects. As I said, they were two very hap hazard teams and the only thing I was reading into it was the same sort of scrappyness Ratima failed to cope with and the speed in general this article says is one of the most advantageous assets (as apposed to Roigards strength) in 9's these days.

316 Go to comments
M
MN 2 hours ago
World rankings gap widens as top four breakaway

Ireland, aside from a last gasp finish against SA in the Republic, seemed to struggle. A lot of drop ball and more going backwards than forwards at times. It appears as if teams have looked closely at Ireland and started unpicking their attack. And Ireland do appear to be playing the same style as over the last couple of years (while struggling at 10)

38 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 18 debutants but Australia's core looking ‘more settled than ever’ 18 debutants but Australia's core looking ‘more settled than ever’
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