SNUBBED HARTLEY TO LEAD ENGLAND
EDDIE JONES is due to confirm this morning that Dylan Hartley, having been contentiously overlooked by the Lions, will lead an inexperienced England squad to Argentina in June.
The national coach will name several rookies for the two-match series against the Pumas, which features Tests in Santa Fe and San Juan.
Bath- bound Ospreys flanker Sam Underhill is set to make the trip, having been identified by Jones as the leading long-term candidate to fill the No 7 shirt in England’s back row as a specialist openside of considerable potential.
There have been indications that some of England’s most established players who have not been chosen by the Lions may be rested for the tour.
The likes of Mike Brown, James Haskell and Tom Wood may fall into that category, though Haskell has not played much in the current campaign, having spent several months recovering from toe surgery last summer.
Sportsmail understands that the squad will have a very low average age, though it is unclear whether Jones will include mainstays of the Under 20 Grand Slam-winning team such as Bath No 8 Zach Mercer and the Curry brothers at Sale, Ben and Tom. However, the Australian is destined to give opportunities to plenty of tyro talent.
Saracens fly-half Alex Lozowski will have a chance to push his claims for a regular place in the senior match- day squad, while another gifted playmaker likely to be involved is Henry Slade of Exeter.
Others in the frame are the Leicester forward pair, prop Ellis Genge and flanker Mike Williams, Gloucester openside Jacob Rowan, Sale’s Josh Beaumont and Mike Haley, Harlequins centre Joe Marchant and Dan Robson, the Wasps scrum-half.
Two others from the Coventrybased club are likely to be disappointed. Christian Wade and Danny Cipriani are hell-bent on resurrecting their Test prospects, but it is thought they may miss out on the trip.
The corresponding England tour to South America four years ago was successful and eventful. Not only did Stuart Lancaster’s weakened side win the two Tests, in Salta and Buenos Aires, in emphatic fashion, they also enjoyed the kudos of supplying several replacements for the Lions, who were in Australia at the time.
Prop Alex Corbisiero left before the opening Test and went on to be a hero of the Lions series victory. Wade made a try-scoring debut in Salta and was soon redirected to Sydney, along with centres Brad Barritt and Billy Twelvetrees.
Argentina v England: Saturday June 10 and Saturday June 17.
THERESA MAY calling a General Election could scupper Government plans to crack down on the secondary ticket market that is increasingly blighting big sporting events.
An amendment to the Consumer Rights Act that would make it much more difficult to re-sell tickets at inflated prices on secondary websites may not be scheduled in the short time available for parliamentary activity ahead of the poll on June 8.
The need for immediate action to curb online piracy is shown by the dodgy ticketing landscape for the world heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley on April 29.
The event is supposedly sold out — so much so that a Sky Sports promotional trailer has boxer Carl Froch being turned away at the Wembley turnstiles.
Yet yesterday the big four secondary sites — StubHub, GetMeIn, Seatwave and Viagogo — had thousands of seats available for the heavyweight showdown.
StubHub, who sponsor Joshua, were displaying 2,298 available tickets.
THE Lions high command are adamant that one mistake from the tour to New Zealand in 2005 will never be repeated — the appointment of a celebrity PR overlord such as Alastair Campbell (right), who knew nothing about rugby. Asked where the former Labour spin doctor went so wrong, a Lions executive said there were too many blunders to highlight just one. At least the Lions have learned lessons from Campbell on what not to do.
IT HAS emerged that the BBC made only a token bid for radio rights for the Lions tour despite the event being of national resonance.
The Beeb’s offer is understood to have been for the minimum amount wanted by the Lions in the knowledge that talkSPORT were going to be competitive rivals.
And the worry for the BBC is that Sky, who now have talkSPORT as part of their News Corp stable, will bundle TV and radio rights in their renewal offer for Twickenham’s autumn internationals.
THE Lions intend to turn their special dinner for all former captains into an annual event. Staged for the first time this year, the aim is to shine more attention on the heroes of the past. And there is a possibility they will even copy the Augusta Masters Champions Dinner and make the latest captain choose the menu.