England coach Eddie Jones has included six uncapped players in his 36-man Six Nations squad, but there’s no place for former Ospreys flanker Sam Underhill.
Among the new faces is Harlequins centre Luke Northmore, 24, who joins his club colleague and fellow former Cardiff Met student Alex Dombrandt in the training group,
There is also a call-up for in-form Wasps back row Alfie Barbeary, 21, who has scored four tries in seven games for his club this season since returning from injury.
The other uncapped players are 20-year-old Bath fly-half Orlando Bailey, Leicester back five forward Ollie Chessum, 21, Northampton full-back Tommy Freeman, 20, and London Irish back three man Ollie Hassell-Collins, who turned 23 yesterday.
At the other end of the scale, the 32-year-old Ben Youngs could become England men’s most-capped player during the tournament.
The Leicester scrum-half, who made his debut in 2010, is two caps behind recotd holder Jason Leonard (114).
The squad also included Leicester tight head prop Joe Heyes, who is the son of Swansea-born professional football goalkeeper Darren Heyes and the grandson of former Swansea City goalkeeper George Heyes.
Owen Farrell will captain England during the Six Nations, while team vice captains will be announced ahead of each match.
Centre Manu Tuilagi, who is yet to make his comeback from a hamstring injury, is left out while there is no space for Bath’s Underhill either.
The squad will meet in Brighton next Monday (January 24) for a five-day training camp, then regroup at Pennyhill Park, ahead of their first game against Scotland at Murrayfield, on Saturday February 5.
They then travel to Rome to take on Italy (Sunday, Feb 13) before hosting Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, February 26.
Coach Jones said: “Selecting this squad has been a difficult task, we’ve got plenty of good young players coming through and some of our more experienced are rediscovering their best form.
“We think this 36 for the first training week reflects a good balance of that experience and up-and-coming talent. In Brighton we’ll focus on getting the fundamentals of our game in play right and developing the cohesion of the team.
“The Six Nations is going to be the most competitive we’ve ever seen. All the countries performed well in the autumn, so we need to be at our best and improve with every game.”
ENGLAND SIX NATIONS SQUAD
Forwards
Alfie Barbeary (Wasps, uncapped)
Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, 5 caps)
Ollie Chessum, Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 31 caps)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 36 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 4 caps)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 31 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 61 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)
Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 12 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 51 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 90 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 74 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 47 caps)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 15 caps)
Backs
Mark Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
Orlando Bailey (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 94 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Max Malins (Saracens, 10 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 7 caps)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 69 caps)
Luke Northmore (Harlequins, uncapped)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 34 caps)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 2 caps)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 43 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 5 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 112 caps)
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