Bath and England A flanker Guy Pepper has been rewarded for his Player of the Match performance in the Gallagher Premiership Final with a place in the 36-man training squad for the upcoming England XV vs France XV match at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, which is live and exclusive on RugbyPass TV (except in France).
Fresh from his starring role in the 23-21 win over Leicester, Pepper has been included in the squad, which assembles today at the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre at Pennyhill Park, along with six of his title-winning teammates, including the man he replaced for the final, Sam Underhill.
Underhill is currently serving a four-match suspension after being sent off in the EPCR Challenge Cup final win against Lyon in Cardiff last month and still has one match of the ban to run.
The newly-crowned English champions’ other representatives are Charlie Ewels and Ted Hill in the forwards and captain Ben Spencer and uncapped duo, Max Ojomoh and Will Muir, in the backs.
However, there is no place for versatile back-rower Miles Reid or full-back Tom de Glanville, who were both excellent on Saturday.
Bath’s tally of seven players is matched by Sale Sharks and Harlequins, while beaten finalists Leicester only have three: Joe Heyes, Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet. Emeka Ilione, who was involved in last month’s training squad, is not included despite making a big impact off the bench in the Premiership final.
The touring squad for England’s summer Test matches against Argentina and USA will be announced on Monday 23 June.
England’s 36-player training squad:
Forwards:Fin Baxter (Harlequins)Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)Theo Dan (Saracens)Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints)Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)Jamie George (Saracens)*Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)Manny Iyogun (Northampton Saints)Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)*Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby)Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)Tom Willis (Saracens)
Backs:Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)Oscar Beard (Harlequins)Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks)Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)George Ford (Sale Sharks)Will Muir (Bath Rugby)Cadan Murley (Harlequins)Luke Northmore (Harlequins)Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks)Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
Rehabilitation: Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), George Furbank (Northampton Saints), Harry Randall (Bristol Bears).
Not considered for selection: Joe Batley (Bristol Bears), Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints).
*assembling on Tuesday
