Forwards
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Paul Hill (Northampton Saints), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Matt Mullan (Wasps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Marland Yarde (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
England senior 26-man squad for Old Mutual Wealth Cup against Wales
Forwards
Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Paul Hill (Northampton Saints), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Matt Mullan (Wasps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Tommy Taylor (Wasps)
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Ollie Devoto (Exeter Chiefs), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Manu Tuilagi (Leciester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Marland Yarde (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
My initial thoughts are as follows
a) Why name a squad which contains two players who are rumoured to be too injured to travel, namely Tuilagi and Farrell? Tuilagi went off with a hamstring tear for crying out loud, he's almost definitely not going.
b) Eddie Jones' love affair with abrasiveness and physicality continues. In comes Ben Te'o before he's even landed, ready to offer back-up to the injury prone Tuilagi. In comes Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler, two young props with huge athleticism, physicality and possibly temper issues. Genge is allegedly being let go by Bristol because of off-the-pitch issues while Sinckler has had a few moments on the pitch (no red cards and only one week banned so far though). Teimana Harrison's elevation above Matt Kvesic is a tribute to his power in contact too. On the one hand, Jones' insistence that England should play rugby as hard as possible is to be applauded, but on the other, those who play on the line sooner or later find themselves crossing it. I still think England were very fortunate that Marler's excursions across the Rubicon went unnoticed at the time during the Six Nations; if they had, they could have cost us the Grand Slam. Jones' success may well come down to keeping England just the right side.
c) Bad news for England's aspiring half-backs as Jones sticks with the incumbents and elects not to take third choices. An injury to Youngs or Care could prove a real sticking point, as whoever Jones picked next, they'd be fresh to their methods. Then again, given the failure of either to ever be consistent in an England shirt, I'd be far from the only one to regard such an injury as having serious silver linings. Dan Robson has looked very good for Wasps since Simpson's injury. Danny Cipriani and Freddie Burns might both look askance at the continued backing of George Ford too - who is being lined up to play the whole game against Wales - and will be praying that Farrell really is too badly injured.
d) I've already mentioned Kvesic, but he might as well sod off to France. It seems unlikely he'll even play in the Wales game and with Harrison already ahead of him and Sam Underhill surely likely to follow, it can't be too long before he's out of the picture altogether. Jones has no brief for a dedicated ball thief. Also in the "Might as well go then" camp is Semesa Rokoduguni, possibly the one forgotten England international looking at less physical players ahead of him, rather than more physical players. Maybe he should have asked to go back to Sevens. Also unlucky is Kieran Brookes (not sure what he's done wrong) and Chris Ashton, who was wanted back in February but now isn't, despite not changing a whit. Thank god and well done to Marland Yarde for making that happen.
In general, there's not a lot to object to. Jones is continuing to push young players with the athleticism to shine at international level. I'm not expecting to see them in the test team, given Jones' desire to force players to go through fire to play for England, but he's backing potential. The real questions now are how they'll perform, how Jones will react to his first bad patch (should it come this summer) and who tours with the Saxons to South Africa.
Predicted team against Wales:
Brown, Watson, Joseph, Burrell, Yarde; Ford, Youngs;
Mullan, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Robshaw, Haskell, Clifford
subs: Taylor, Genge, Hill, Attwood, Harrison, Care, Devoto, Daly
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