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Injury rules one of Newcastle's uncapped contingent out of the England squad
By Liam Heagney
England have called up Josh McNally, the uncapped 30-year-old Bath lock, after uncapped Newcastle second-rower Sean Robinson, another 30-year-old, picked up a knee ligament injury in training that is still being assessed. It is the second change to the 34-strong squad originally announced last Thursday by Eddie Jones for this week’s first training camp leading into the three-game summer series which kicks off on June 27.
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Gloucester’s Jack Singleton, the previously capped hooker who was part of the 2019 World Cup squad, withdrew from the week-long camp before it started this week as he was forced to self-isolate following a close contact notification via the NHS app.
That resulted in Wasps’ Gabriel Oghre being called up to the squad, a decision to took to 22 the number of uncapped Test level players that Jones was working with and that figure now stays the same with the like-for-like swap of the uncapped McNally for Robinson.
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AN RFU squad update on Wednesday read: “Sean Robinson has withdrawn from the England squad with an MCL knee injury sustained in training. He will undergo further assessment this week but will be unavailable for the rest of the summer series.
“Josh McNally has been called up and has joined the rest of the squad at The Lensbury, Teddington, where they are based for a training camp until Friday. Eddie Jones’ side will reconvene on Sunday ahead of the following weekend’s England A v Scotland A game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, Leicester (Sunday, June 27, 2pm). They will then play two Test matches at Twickenham Stadium – against the USA (Sunday, July 4, 2pm) and Canada (Saturday, July 10, 3pm).”
Eddie Jones has explained why Newcastle were the club that provided the biggest contingent of uncapped players in his latest England squad https://t.co/4kmMRe25d6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 10, 2021
Newcastle had the biggest representation of the seven clubs – forwards Jamie Blamire, Callum Chick, Trevor Davison and Robinson along with flying winger Adam Radwan – that originally provided the 21 uncapped players in the summer series training squad, something that greatly pleased England boss Jones.
“It’s the quality of players,” he enthused. “Dean (Richards) has got an uncanny eye to pick out talent and they usually come through the unusual pathways, not the usual way with (England) 16s, 18s, the 20s. They usually come through a more diverged pathway and he has got an eye for that talent. They have played consistently well and they are being rewarded for their performances.”
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Coming from the tough Knowle West district of Bristol, the combative Ellis Genge has forged an unconventional path into the Test arena with England https://t.co/5oLAJsE84Q
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 13, 2021
