Gloucester out-half Danny Cipriani has been included among the 31 players to attend England’s second training camp next week.
The camp will take place between June 30th and July 4th at the Lensbury Hotel, with head coach Eddie Jones set to confirm his official World Cup training squad on the final day.
Cipriani has been excluded from England squads for some time now due to off-field issues, however, there have been calls among rugby fans for this year’s Premiership Players Player of the Year and Player of the Year to be brought back into the fold.
The squad have been training for the past week, with Harlequins duo Kyle Sinckler and Marcus Smith being sent back to the club.
Jones is happy with what he has seen and is also impressed by the conditions that returning players are coming back in.
“It has been a really positive week. We have worked on our fundamentals of the game, a little bit of physical conditioning and I’m really pleased with the attitude of the players. They have all come back from their leave in excellent condition and the best I have seen in the time I have been with England,” he said.
As well as Cipriani fellow Gloucester men Willi Heinz and Ollie Thorley along with Northampton pair Piers Francis and Courtney Lawes join the squad.
However, the Exeter Chiefs and Saracens contingent will not be added to the squad until they have completed their mandatory five-week rest period which concludes this week.
“Next week we will add some players and be looking to improve our physical conditioning, the ability to understand how we want to play the game and start to increase the pressure at training. We have a couple of players going back to their clubs as we feel it is in their best interests in terms of the World Cup to do that, and we will consider their participation in the squad further down the track,” he added.
Jack Nowell, George Kruis and Mako Vunipola are all in the camp continuing their rehabilitation from their respective injuries.
England kick-off their World Cup warm-up games with a double-header against Wales, home and away on August 11th and 17th respectively. Before they face Ireland at Twickenham on the 24th and Italy in Newcastle on September 6th.
The squad will travel to Treviso for a heat camp before the first three matches and for a week leading up to the Italian game before jetting off to Japan for the World Cup.
Check Out the Full 31-Man Squad Below.
Forwards
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints)
Val Rapava Ruskin (Gloucester Rugby)
Nick Schonert (Worcester Warriors)
Brad Shields (Wasps)
Jack Singleton (Worcester Warriors)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Cipriani (Gloucester Rugby)
Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby)
Elliot Daly (Wasps)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
Piers Francis (Northampton Saints)
Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers)
Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath Rugby)
Dan Robson (Wasps)
Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)
Ollie Thorley (Gloucester Rugby)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
*In for medical treatment
George Kruis (Saracens)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
