Two Bristol Bears have been named in the England A squad to face the All Blacks XVJoe Batley of Bristol Bears (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Pat Lam has revealed why Bristol Bears lock Joe Batley will not captain England A against the All Blacks XV on Saturday, having initially been announced to do so.

Batley’s attempts to pull on the red rose in the last year have come with a series of challenges, arriving at international camp last Autumn with a broken leg, sustained in the 10-10 draw with Australia A playing for the Bears the week before, to get sent home to recover. A toe injury in January then ruled the 29-year-old out of the clash with Ireland during the Six Nations window, and then a knee injury in the Gallagher PREM semi-final defeat to Bath sidelined the Bears’ second row for the senior side’s summer tour to Argentina and the USA.

READ MORE: Bristol Bears vs Argentina XV LIVE: Play-by-play updates from Ashton Gate

Fit again, and impressing for Bristol, Batley was called up again by England A head coach Mark Mapletoft last week, but life has had other plans. Bristol director of rugby Lam explained: “Joe Batley’s had an eventful week. I think he was down as captain and then Anna, his partner, gave birth on Monday to their second child, and so he’s only just joined them for training on Thursday.”

Former England international flanker Ethan Roots will lead England A against the All Blacks XV at the Recreation Ground, with Bears club captain Fitz Harding named on the bench for his first taste of representative rugby, having impressed for the Barbarians last weekend.

With Batley missing in training as the England A squad trained at the University of Bath this week, Lam revealed lock Joe Owen, who is one of the club’s rising stars, was called up to take his place.

Lam said: “Joe Owen went in to help out to cover his mate Joe Batley because Joe was in hospital with Anna, doing whatever he needed to do to help the baby arrive safely. And so Mark Maplethoft asked if Joe could come to training because, you know, he’s in the frame as well.

“Joe will be involved with us this week against Argentina, but for the first part of the week, he was training to cover his mate. He was buzzing just to get an opportunity to go into the environment and work with the players.”

England Men’s A matchday squad to face All Blacks XV (includes current club, community club and senior caps) 15 Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs, Vale of Lune RUFC, uncapped) 14 Noah Caluori (Saracens, Blackheath Rugby, uncapped) 13 Angus Hall (Saracens, Sevenoaks Rugby Club, uncapped) 12 Max Ojomoh (vc) (Bath Rugby, Chippenham RFC, 1 cap) 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester Tigers, Newbury RFC, 2 caps) 10 Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, Oxford RFC, 1 cap) 9 Archie McParland (Northampton Saints, Ruthin RFC, uncapped) 1 Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints, Southend RFC, uncapped) 2 Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers, Workington RFC, 7 caps) 3 Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, Saracens Amateur RFC, uncapped) 4 Tom Lockett (Northampton Saints, Colchester RFC, uncapped) 5 Joe Batley (Bristol Bears, Gosport and Fareham RFC, uncapped) 6 Ethan Roots (c) (Exeter Chiefs, East Coast Bays RFC, 4 caps) 7 Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints, Bromyard Rugby Club, 1 cap) 8 Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs, Devonport Services RFC, uncapped)

Replacements

16 Kepu Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby, Cwmbran RFC, uncapped) 17 Tarek Haffar (Leicester Tigers, Grasshoppers RFC, uncapped) 18 Vilikesa Sela (Bath Rugby, Royal Wootton Bassett RFC, uncapped) 19 Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks, Langworthy Reds ARLFC, uncapped) 20 Fitz Harding (Bristol Bears, Beaconsfield RFC, uncapped) 21 Caolan Englefield (Gloucester Rugby, Old Rutlishians Rugby, uncapped) 22 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks, Ampthill RUFC, uncapped) 23 Adam Radwan (Leicester Tigers, Billingham RUFC, 2 caps)