Manu Tuilagi and Ben Youngs have been named in Eddie Jones’ first England training squad of the autumn but there was no place for Youngs’ fellow veteran scrum-half Danny Care.
Tuilagi, who has recovered from a knee injury, and Youngs, who chose not to tour Australia for personal reasons, are part of the 36-man outfit who will start preparations for their four home Autumn Nations series fixtures in November during a three-day training camp this weekend.
Even at this stage of the season England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, is without a number of senior players because of injuries with George Ford, Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes, Sam Underhill and Anthony Watson unavailable.
The 35-year-old Care’s surprise international comeback appears to be over, however, having been replaced in the first half of the Sydney decider against the Wallabies because of an error-strewn display.
Jack van Poortvliet and Alex Mitchell join Youngs as the scrum-halves in the 36-man squad but Harry Randall, another nine who travelled to Australia, is absent.
The centre Joe Marchant is also culled having failed to impress in the 2-1 series win Down Under and others among those available for selection but not included among the group are props Kyle Sinckler and Joe Marler.
Jones’ squad includes first call-ups for Northampton Saints’ Alex Coles and Saracens’ Hugh Tizard, both players having previously represented England U20s.
The finalised squad for the Autumn Nations series will be announced in mid-October.