Final audition: Eddie Jones will name his squad for England’s tour of Australia on Monday
(Picture: Getty Images)England players this weekend have their final opportunity to impress Eddie Jones and win a place on this summer’s tour of Australia.
Jones will name his squad on Monday, shortly before the team fly down under, following the Premiership final tomorrow and England’s non-cap fixture against the Barbarians on Sunday. Both games are at Twickenham.
Jones named his team to face the Barbarians today, having had a 36-man squad that includes 10 uncapped players in camp this week. Obviously players from Saracens and Leicester – likely to make up a decent proportion of the squad – are unavailable due to the final.
Danny Care, who was originally due to play for the Barbarians, could make his first international appearance since 2018 after being named on the bench for England, while Northampton full-back Tommy Freeman and Harlequins hooker Jack Walker are handed their senior debuts.
Henry Arundell and Will Joseph miss out on the squad, though London Irish team-mate Will Goodrick-Clarke is on the bench along with Exeter prop Patrick Schickerling and Bath fly-half Orlando Bailey.
Jones has never lost to his native Australia as England head coach, but Dave Rennie’s team are making a resurgence and the tour represents a significant challenge for a team that won just two games in the Six Nations and is missing the likes of first-choice centres Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade due to injury. There are three Tests in July, in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.
England team to face Barbarians
Starting XV: Freeman; Cokanasiga, Marchant, Atkinson, May; Smith, Randall; Rodd, Walker, Collier, Ewels, Hill, Curry (c), Underhill, Dombrandt.
Replacements: Singleton, Goodrick-Clarke, Schickerling, Lawes, Willis, Care, Bailey, Nowell
The Barbarians, who are being coached by France boss Fabien Galthie, have spent the week preparing in Monaco. The team, unsurprisingly, has an especially French feel, with Charles Ollivon the captain and Damian Penaud and Virimi Vakatawa in the backline.
But in the second row, they have the former Saracens pairing of Englishman George Kruis and Australia’s Will Skelton. After a couple of years playing in Japan, Kruis, 32, makes his final appearance before retirement this weekend.
