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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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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 17 days ago

Ewels for the red card hatrick

C
CM 17 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 17 days ago

Charlie Ewels to replace Ted Hill... Jesus wept

B
Bob Salad II 17 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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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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