England get triple player boost ahead of All Blacks visit

England have retained the bulk of the squad that opened their Nations Championship campaign with back-to-back victories over Japan and Australia, Steve Borthwick confirming a 36-man roster ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight showdown with New Zealand at Twickenham.

The headline news is that frontliners George Furbank, Seb Atkinson and Ollie Chessum have all been cleared to train again after missing out on the Japan win.

The 36-man squad that will assemble at Pennyhill Park also sees uncapped Harlequins flanker Jack Kenningham come into the forwards group in place of the injured Tom Curry.

The only other change from the original squad named on November 2nd is Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland, who featured against Japan, and Bath centre Max Ojomoh.

The trio replace Curry, wing Exeter Chiefs star Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Bristol Bears’ scrum-half Harry Randall, who have all been ruled out with injury, as flagged last week.

Having followed their Australia victory with a 78-15 demolition of Eddie Jones’ Japan on Saturday, England can head into next weekend’s All Blacks encounter with confidence.

Dave Rennie’s New Zealand, on the other hand, come in on the back of a shock loss to Wales in Cardiff and will be eager to set the record straight with a potential Nations Championship final still on the line.

Forwards:
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
George Martin (Saracens)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)

Backs:
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
George Furbank (Harlequins)
Will Joseph (Gloucester Rugby)
Joe Marchant (Sale Sharks)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Archie McParland (Northampton Saints)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)