England name six uncapped players in 36-man Six Nations training squad

Eddie Jones has named a 36-player England squad to begin preparations for the Guinness Six Nations.

The squad will meet in Brighton on Monday [24 January] for a five-day training camp.

They will then regroup at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot ahead of their first game, against Scotland, at Murrayfield on Saturday 5 February.

Ben Youngs could become England men’s most-capped player during the tournament. The scrum-half, who made his debut in March 2010, is two caps behind Jason Leonard (114 caps). In other potential milestones, Kyle Sinckler is in line to make his 50th cap.

TEDDINGTON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 28: Eddie Jones, the England head coach looks on during the England training session held at The Lensbury on September 28, 2021 in Teddington, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

There are six uncapped players included in the squad – Orlando Bailey, Alfie Barbeary, Ollie Chessum, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Luke Northmore.

Owen Farrell will captain England, while team vice captains will be announced ahead of each match.

Following the Scotland game, England will travel to Rome to play Italy on Sunday 13 February.

Jones’ side will then return to England for home games at Twickenham Stadium against Wales (Saturday 26 February) and Ireland (Saturday 12 March), before finishing the campaign in Paris against France on Saturday 19 March.

Jones said: “Selecting this squad has been a difficult task, we’ve got plenty of good young players coming through and some of our more experienced are rediscovering their best form.

“We think this 36 for the first training week reflects a good balance of that experience and up-and-coming talent.

“In Brighton we’ll focus on getting the fundamentals of our game in play right and developing the cohesion of the team.

“The Six Nations is going to be the most competitive we’ve ever seen. All the countries performed well in the autumn, so we need to be at our best and improve with every game.”