The RFU and coach Lancaster announced the England Squad that will tour South Africa in June today. They will be playing three tests and two mid-week games in what is an attempt to return to the rugby tours of old. Lancaster is a lucky man as he knows who will be ready and able to play in that first test bar any training injuries.The first test will no doubt be a hard one for both teams. The Springboks have only a week to prepare as a team before that game. The English will come well prepared, but after two weeks of rest, match sharpness may be lacking. It is interesting that they didn't opt for a warm up game of sorts before the first test.
With only 42 players coming it will also mean that some of the England lads will play in 4-5 games in the space of 21 days. Not a prospect I would be looking forward too. It will be interesting to see who these lucky players are as they will probably sit on the bench for at least two of the games.
The England squad looks as follows:
Forwards: Mouritz Botha (Saracens), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Paul Doran Jones (Northampton Saints), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints), Carl Fearns (Bath Rugby)Joe Gray (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Otago Highlanders), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (capt, Harlequins), George Robson (Harlequins), Matt Stevens (Saracens), Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Backs: Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers), Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Alex Goode (Saracens), Charlie Hodgson (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), George Lowe (Harlequins), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), David Strettle (Saracens), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Christian Wade (London Wasps), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
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