England A head coach Mark Mapletoft has named a fascinating 26-man squad to take on Ireland XV at Thomond Park on Friday, February 6.<\/p>\n
There have been nine players named who have appeared in the senior squad in the past, making it a total of 17 uncapped men in the squad.<\/p>\n
Those who have been capped previously are: Alex Dombrandt, Ethan Roots, Jamie Blamire, Joe Carpenter, Luke Northmore, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Charlie Atkinson, Raffi Quirke and Harry Randall.<\/p>\n
Orlando Bailey, Paul Brown-Bampoe, Zach Carr, Will Hobson, Luke Northmore, Billy Searle and Will Wand are all in line for their first matchday involvements for the A side.<\/p>\n
Which clubs are represented in the England A team?<\/p>\n
From Bath, there is just one inclusion. Kepueli Tuipulotu, the son of former Tongan scrum-half Sione Tu\u2019ipulotu, will hope to make his third A team appearance at hooker after an impressive early start to his career.<\/p>\n
Joe Batley, Fitz Harding, George Kloska and Randall all hail from neighbouring Bristol. Randall has a host of senior England caps to his name already, but his teammates will look to push on from their impressive club form and take it to the next level.<\/p>\n
The electrifying Exeter winger Brown-Bampoe<\/a> may have his first opportunity in an England A shirt when Friday comes along, while club teammate Roots could look to use this as a springboard to challenge for a heavily contested senior England back-row shirt.<\/p>\n The promising duo of Afolabi Fasogbon and Atkinson have been selected from Gloucester, as they look to build upon their growing reputations and cement themselves in the conversation for the senior team.<\/p>\n Ireland legend: Antoine Dupont is the \u2018greatest rugby player\u2019 who has \u2018ever played the game\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Despite their poor form domestically, Harlequins<\/a> boast five members of the squad, including back-row Carr, former England star Dombrandt, young prop Hobson, clubman Sam Riley and centre Northmore.<\/p>\n The Leicester Tigers contingent includes many players who have left previous clubs due to a lack of success or exposure, including Blamire, Tarek Haffar, Bailey, Hassell-Collins and the well-travelled Searle, who have all quite rightly been given opportunities to re-pitch themselves after impressive starts to the season.<\/p>\n With such a large number of Northampton Saints<\/a> in the senior squad, it\u2019s almost a surprise that there are any left to be picked for the A team, but Tom Lockett and George Hendy have deservedly been given a spot after their impressive performances recently.<\/p>\n Finally, lock Ben Bamber, backs Carpenter, Rekeiti Ma\u2019asi-White and the Newcastle-bound Quirke represent Sale Sharks.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a really exciting England A group\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a really exciting England A group and there\u2019s a lot of talent in this squad that we\u2019re looking forward to seeing express itself on the pitch. These players have earned their selection through strong performances at club level, and this fixture gives them the chance to test themselves in a high intensity environment and show what they\u2019re capable of,\u201d said Mapletoft.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a strong balance of experience and emerging potential across the squad, and that competition for places is exactly what we want within the A side. Matches like this are about pushing standards, building confidence and giving players the platform to take the next step in their England journey. There\u2019s real anticipation around this game and we\u2019re excited to see how this group develops together.\u201d<\/p>\n England A squad<\/p>\n Forwards: Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks, uncapped); Joe Batley (Bristol Bears, uncapped); Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps); Zach Carr (Harlequins, uncapped); Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 23 caps); Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped); Tarek Haffar (Leicester Tigers, uncapped); Fitz Harding (Bristol Bears, uncapped); Will Hobson (Harlequins, uncapped); George Kloska (Bristol Bears, uncapped); Tom Lockett (Northampton Saints, uncapped); Sam Riley (Harlequins, uncapped); Ethan Roots (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps); Kepueli Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby, uncapped)<\/p>\n Backs: Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap); Orlando Bailey (Leicester Tigers, uncapped); Paul Brown-Bampoe (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped); Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks, 1 cap); Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps); George Hendy (Northampton Saints, uncapped); Rekeiti Ma\u2019asi-White (Sale Sharks, uncapped); Luke Northmore (Harlequins, 2 caps); Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks, 2 caps); Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 14 caps); Billy Searle (Leicester Tigers, uncapped); William Wand (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n