Jeff Probyn: New batch can be Eddie’s game changers for RWC

Well that’s it, speculation over finally and a squad picked that really didn’t surprise anybody other than the odd few omissions.
For those not picked there is bound to be a sense of disappointment but even if touted as favourites to go, most would have known that some were bound to be disappointed and it could be them.
The question is, will they win with the squad that’s been picked and how many will come back better players for the experience?  Despite that, it will be the trip of a lifetime for those who make the plane.
Eddie Jones has chosen his squad for Argentina and included so much young new talent that at last we are going to see what he can really can do.
The loss of 16 players to the Lions has at last given Jones the chance to throw off the shackles of the Lancaster era and pick a squad he can really call his own. Yes, he has a core of established players who, for whatever reason, failed to make the Lions cut but it is the 15 new players in a squad of 31 who could be the big game changers for Jones and England.
With six forwards and nine backs uncapped, you can see where Jones thinks he has to make changes if England are going to win a second World Cup.
The chance for Sam Underhill to stake his claim as a true openside adds something to the England pack and the team’s potential which has been missing for years. Although the combination of James Haskell and Chris Robshaw has served England well as a halfway house solution, the need for a true openside has been all too apparent against quality opposition.
Up front with all four of his props chosen for the Lions, Jones has opted to bring in two young guns, Harry Williams and Will Collier. They will learn a lot from playing in a country where the scrum is king and props have to work hard just to survive.
Argentina was where a 22-year-old Jason Leonard won his first cap against Diego Cash, a canny old prop who gave young Jason a hard time and was instrumental in teaching him to be the player he became.
The forwards are interesting but it is the backs that really tell a story, with nine uncapped players despite losing just six to the Lions.
The option of taking three fly-halves seems a little odd, with the experienced George Ford facing a challenge for his place in the team from young Alex Lozowski, whose move to Saracens this season seems to have paid dividends and Piers Francis who hasn’t even played a game in England yet. Despite the Ford/Owen Farrell combination delivering much of England’s success over the past two seasons, it appears from this selection Jones is looking for something different.
A ‘complete’ fly-half allowing him to change the midfield back to its traditional makeup of centres in the Will Carling/Jeremy Guscott mould, an inside centre power runner who creates space for the outside centre who can exploit it.
If added in the young wings, Nathan Earle and Joe Cokanasiga, who Jones has said have been picked because they are big, you get a sense of the game that Jones is hoping to play in Argentina and forward towards 2019.
I was perhaps a little surprised at the selections of Denny Solomona, only because of the ongoing saga between Sale and Castleford over his move and the potential for the RFU to now become involved.
With the selection of Solomona and Francis for the touring squad, it would seem that playing rugby union in England is now no longer a prerequisite for selection in the England team.
Reflecting on the Lions selection is always going to be coloured by a personal view of players and also, your loyalty to club and country.
England were always bound to have the biggest contingent of players with 16, having won back-to-back Six Nations titles but I think that Ireland perhaps will feel a little hard done by.
Having beaten the All Blacks and finished second in the Six Nations, I thought they would be the next biggest group with 11 players, seven forwards and four backs – but I was wrong.
Despite finishing just above Italy at the bottom of the table and playing some very poor rugby, Wales managed a total of 12 players, six forwards and six backs, however, I can’t disagree with any of the Welsh players picked.
Scotland’s two is actually probably one too many, Hogg was definitely the player of the Six Nations and he was smart enough to see the ‘writing on the wall’ and came off injured against England before it turned in to the cricket score result (61-21) that ended most of the Scotland players’ Lions dreams.
As for England rejects, some were no surprise, Haskell and Dylan Hartley would always have been a long shots despite form or position because of the media frenzy the last time they visited New Zealand in 2011.
Joe Launchbury is a puzzle, man of the match in two Six Nations matches and currently captaining Premiership leaders Wasps, he  has had a great season.
There must be ‘something’ about Wasps players. Despite being the best in our positions, few of us get picked to tour with the Lions.