Slade withdrawn from England squad as veteran pair recalled

Exeter Chiefs Henry Slade has been withdrawn from the England squad as new head coach Steve Borthwick named his 35-man squad for Scotland in their Guinness Six Nations opener.

Slade was withdrawn from the squad with a hip injury sustained in Exeter Chief’s game against Castres, before last week’s training camp, and “has not recovered sufficiently to be available for selection.”

Saracens hooker Jamie George has been named in the squad and will continue to work through his Graduated Return to Play protocols. Leicester Tigers winger Anthony Watson has also been named in the squad, the British & Irish Lion having been recalled following injury.

The squad has reconvened on Sunday at the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre at Pennyhill Park, where Borthwick said: “This is a very important week for us as we prepare for our first game against Scotland.

“We know that Scotland are an excellent side with a great coaching team led by Gregor Townsend. They’re a settled squad who have been together a long time and have dominated this fixture in recent seasons.

“They will be coming to Twickenham full of confidence. We know we have a lot of work to do. The team trained very hard last week and are ready to go again this week. We can’t wait to run out at Twickenham again in front of our incredible supporters.”

FULL ENGLAND SQUAD

FORWARDS
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 95 caps)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks,1 cap)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 9 caps)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)
Ben Earl (Saracens, 13 caps)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 43 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 72 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)
Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 19 caps)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 8 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 62 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 14 caps)
David Ribbans (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 56 caps)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 74 caps)
Jack Walker (Harlequins, uncapped)
Jack Willis (Toulouse, 6 caps)

BACKS
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 101 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Dan Kelly (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 7 caps)
Max Malins (Saracens, 14 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 13 caps)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins, uncapped)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 17 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 50 caps)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)
Anthony Watson (Leicester Tigers, 51 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 121 caps)