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Eddie Jones calls uncapped George Martin into his England Six Nations squad

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has named his England squad replacement for the injured Jack Willis, uncapped 19-year-old Leicester forward George Martin getting called into the 28-strong squad ahead of the February 27 round three Guinness Six Nations game away to Wales. 

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England flanker Willis suffered a devastating knee injury when appearing off the bench in last Saturday’s round two win over Italy, the forward getting hurt when crocodile rolled at a second-half breakdown. 

That left Jones with a vacancy in his England squad that he has now filled with the unheralded Martin who has made four appearances for Leicester in this season’s Gallagher Premiership, two as a starter at blindside. It follows two other league appearances in the post-lockdown restart of the 2019/20 season.   

Video Spacer

Part one of the six-part RugbyPass documentary on the Leicester Tigers academy that produced new England call-up George Martin

Video Spacer

Part one of the six-part RugbyPass documentary on the Leicester Tigers academy that produced new England call-up George Martin

Martin was originally named in the twelve-strong shadow squad that Jones announced on January 22 when he first picked his 28 for the Six Nations. Willis was included with Martin as one of those twelve back-ups and he got his call-up when a hip injury ruled out Sam Underhill.

Born in Nottingham and with a family home in Loughborough, Martin – who is listed as a second row by Leicester in his club website profile – came through the ranks at the Tigers academy, captaining their team in the 2018/19 season that was covered by the widely acclaimed six-part RugbyPass documentary series.

The RFU statement on Thursday afternoon on the England squad update read: “England have reconvened at their training base, The Lensbury, as they prepare for the next round of the Guinness Six Nations. George Martin has been called up to the 28-player squad, with Jack Willis ruled out of the tournament after suffering a knee injury in last weekend’s win over Italy.

“Eddie Jones’ side will travel to Cardiff next week where they will play Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, February 27. They will then face France at Twickenham on March 13 before travelling to Dublin to play Ireland on March 20 in their final game.”

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AM 5 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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