GAME IS ON
England name squad ahead of Six Nations match against Italy today
HEAD coach of the England national rugby team, Eddie Jones, has named a 36-player squad for his side’s autumn tournament fixtures.
England will play their final match of the rescheduled 2020 Guinness Six Nations against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome today (4.45pm GMT), knowing a bonus point win could see them lift the trophy.
They then return to begin their Autumn Nations Cup campaign at Twickenham Stadium where they will play three Quilter Internationals. England then play Georgia (Saturday, November 14) and Ireland (Saturday, November 21).
England then face Wales (Saturday, November 28) before a placing match at home to determine final position in the competition (Sunday, December 6).
England have been in training for the fixtures at The Lensbury in Teddington.
The squad includes seven Gallagher Premiership Finalists – Exeter Chiefs trio Jonny Hill, Henry Slade and Harry Williams, along with Wasps’ Joe
Launchbury, Dan Robson, Jacob Umaga and Jack Willis.
Jones said: “We have to put our best foot forward if we want to win the Six Nations. We need to set the tone of the game and we want to put a smile on fans’ faces, a lot of people are enduring hardships and we are grateful for the opportunity to represent England in these difficult times.
“We were disappointed with the postponement of the Barbarians game but we moved to plan B, had a highly competitive training session instead of the match and now we are fully focused on the Italy game and winning the Six Nations.”
Recently appointed skills coach Jason Ryles will join up with the team for the start of the Autumn Nations Cup, after finishing the season and winning the NRL Grand Final with Melbourne Storm, where he was assistant coach. Italy v England is live on ITV 1 and all Autumn Nations Cup games will be live on Amazon Prime.