Sleightholme one of four Saints players named in England training squad

Uncapped wing Ollie Sleightholme is one of four Saints players who have been named in England's 45-man training squad.
Ollie SleightholmeOllie Sleightholme
Ollie Sleightholme

Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and George Furbank will also be part of the training camp, which runs from Sunday, September 26 to Tuesday, September 28.

It will be the first time England’s new coaching staff will work with the players, after the appointments of Richard Cockerill, Martin Gleeson and Anthony Seibold over the summer.

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Saints skipper Ludlam earned the most recent of his 10 England caps back in July as the Red Rose faced Canada, with full-back Furbank (four caps to date) also involved in that Twickenham Test, which England won 70-14.

Lawes meanwhile has a century of international caps firmly in his crosshairs; after bringing his tally of Test appearances for the British & Irish Lions to five over the summer, the hard-hitting lock/flanker is up to 92 Tests in total, with 87 of those in England colours.

At the other end of the spectrum, rapid 21-year-old wing Sleightholme is uncapped and will be looking to catch the eye of Eddie Jones, after being selected but then missing out on the chance to train with England in the summer through injury.

“This is an exciting squad made up of experienced players and young guys who did well in the summer and earned their place again,” said Jones.

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“We have left out some experienced players but we’re really clear that the door isn’t closed to them, and we’re looking forward to seeing them work hard to get back into contention.

“We have five campaigns now until the 2023 World Cup so each one counts, and this is a chance for this 45 to impress the new coaching staff.”

The camp will form part of England’s preparations for the Autumn Internationals in November, when they will host Tonga (Saturday, November 6, 3.15pm KO), Australia (Saturday, November 13, 5.30pm KO) and world champions South Africa (Saturday, November 20, 3.15pm KO). All matches will be live on Amazon Prime.

England 45-man training squad

FORWARDS

Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, 2 caps)

Callum Chick (Newcastle Falcons, 2 caps)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 31 caps)

Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 33 caps)

Trevor Davison (Newcastle Falcons, 1 cap)

Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 1 cap)

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 23 caps)

Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 30 caps)

Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)

Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)

Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors, 2 caps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens, 48 caps)

Jack Kenningham (Harlequins, uncapped)

Courtney Lawes (Saints, 87 caps)

Lewis Ludlam (Saints, 10 caps)

Lewis Ludlow (Gloucester Rugby, 2 caps)

Joe Marler (Harlequins, 72 caps)

George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)

Beno Obano (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)

Gabriel Oghre (Wasps, uncapped)

Sam Riley (Harlequins, uncapped)

Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, uncapped)

Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps)

Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 44 caps)

Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)

Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 24 caps)

BACKS

Mark Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)

Owen Farrell (Saracens, 93 caps)

George Furbank (Saints, 4 caps)

Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 7 caps)

Louis Lynagh (Harlequins, uncapped)

Max Malins (Saracens, 8 caps)

Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 6 caps)

Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 66 caps)

Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks, uncapped)

Adam Radwan (Newcastle Falcons, 1 cap)

Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 2 caps)

Dan Robson (Wasps, 14 caps)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 40 caps)

Ollie Sleightholme (Saints, uncapped)

Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 2 caps)

Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)

Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 43 caps)

Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 51 caps)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 109 caps)