Noah Caluori debut a step closer as injury-hit England announce squad
Steve Borthwick has named his 35-man England squad that will prepare to take on Argentina this Sunday at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, with three members of the squad that triumphed over the All Blacks at the weekend absent.
Jamie George, Ollie Lawrence and Tom Roebuck – all starters in the 33-19 win over the All Blacks – have not been included in the squad for England’s final match of the Quilter Nations Series.
British and Irish Lion Luke Cowan-Dickie is likely to start in George’s place, with Jamie Blamire and Theo Dan both included in the squad to vie for a place in the matchday 23 against the Pumas.
After hobbling from the field in the final minutes of the win, try-scorer and player of the match contender Lawrence has failed to recover and has missed out, with Henry Slade, Max Ojomoh and Elliot Daly – all of whom have not featured this autumn – all contenders to wear the No.13 jersey.
Borthwick’s decision to select plenty of wingers in his initial squad is paying off, with another try-scorer against the All Blacks, Roebuck, missing out. The Sale Sharks star missed the victory over Fiji with an ankle injury, and now joins Tommy Freeman on the sidelines, who continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
Henry Arundell, Cadan Murley and the uncapped Noah Caluori provide options for Borthwick out wide. Though Arundell has already featured for England this November, against Fiji from the bench, Saracens’ Caluori poses the aerial threat that Roebuck brought and has been the foundation of England’s success.
England have been boosted by full-back Freddie Steward’s availability after the full-back was forced from the field after 20 minutes against Scott Robertson’s side with a head injury.
England squad
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
Beno Obano (Bath Rugby)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
Backs
Henry Arundell (Bath Rugby)
Noah Caluori (Saracens)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)