{"id":822466,"date":"2026-11-03T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/822466\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:28:12","slug":"england-hand-surprise-call-up-to-former-maori-all-blacks-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/822466\/","title":{"rendered":"England hand surprise call-up to former M\u0101ori All Blacks forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>England A have named their squad to face Argentina XV, with a former M\u0101ori All Blacks forward among the new additions.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Mark Mapletoft has selected a 30-man group for Friday&#8217;s clash at The Rec, which kicks off at 19:45 and will be shown live on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/englandrugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">England Rugby YouTube channel<\/a> and Premier Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The squad has been put together through a collaborative approach involving Mapletoft, senior England head coach Steve Borthwick and RFU Executive Director of Rugby Performance Conor O&#8217;Shea.<\/p>\n<p>All 10 Gallagher PREM clubs are represented, with the England A squad assembling at the University of Bath training ground ahead of their first fixture of the season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/newcastle-red-bulls-rugby-news\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Newcastle Red Bulls<\/a> forward Max Hicks is one of six players receiving their first call-up, having impressed since arriving in the North East this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The New Zealand-born forward can operate at either lock or blindside flanker.<\/p>\n<p>He started his professional career with Tasman before making his Highlanders debut in Super Rugby in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>That same year, he earned a call-up to the M\u0101ori All Blacks, making two appearances for the side against Japan XV.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks moved to France to join Perpignan ahead of the 2025\/26 campaign but left in January 2026 to agree a two-year deal with Newcastle Red Bulls from the following season.<\/p>\n<p>He is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/rugby-news\/steve-borthwick-set-to-make-shock-england-call-up-for-former-all-blacks-star\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">eligible to represent England through his ancestry<\/a>, with his mother from Cornwall. He has not been capped at senior Test level by New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>The other new faces are Lucas Friday, Will Knight, Alex O&#8217;Driscoll, James Pater and Will Trenholm.<\/p>\n<p>Bristol Bears&#8217; Fitz Harding will captain the side.<\/p>\n<p>Eight players with previous senior <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/england-rugby-news\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">England <\/a>appearances have also been included: Charlie Atkinson, Jamie Blamire, Noah Caluori, Joe Carpenter, George Kloska, Luke Northmore, Max Ojomoh and Ethan Roots.<\/p>\n<p>England Men\u2019s \u2018A\u2019 training squad for Argentina XV fixture<br \/>\n(includes current club, community club and senior men&#8217;s caps)<\/p>\n<p>Forwards<\/p>\n<p>Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks, Langworthy Reds ARLFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Joe Batley (Bristol Bears, Gosport and Fareham RFC,<br \/>\nuncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Jamie Blamire (Leicester Tigers, Workington RFC, 7 caps)<\/p>\n<p>Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby, Saracens<br \/>\nAmateur RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Fitz Harding (c) (Bristol Bears, Beaconsfield RFC,<br \/>\nuncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Max Hicks (Newcastle Red Bulls, Marist RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Will Hobson (Harlequins, Wymondham Rugby Club, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Jibulu (Sale Sharks, Old Wimbledonians, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Jack Kenningham (Harlequins, Reeds, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>George Kloska (Bristol Bears, St. Brendan\u2019s RFC, 2 caps)<\/p>\n<p>Tom Lockett (Northampton Saints, Colchester RFC,<br \/>\nuncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Alex O&#8217;Driscoll (Saracens, Amersham &amp; Chiltern RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Sam Riley (Harlequins, Chobham RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Ethan Roots (Exeter Chiefs, East Coast Bays RFC, 4 caps)<\/p>\n<p>Will Trenholm (Gloucester Rugby, Farnham RUFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Archie van der Flier (Leicester Tigers, Nottingham Rugby, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Backs<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, Oxford RFC, 1 cap)<\/p>\n<p>Orlando Bailey (Leicester Tigers, Dorchester RFC,<br \/>\nuncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Noah Caluori (Saracens, Blackheath Rugby, 2 caps)<\/p>\n<p>Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks, West Park Leeds RUFC, 1 cap)<\/p>\n<p>Tobias Elliott (Saracens, Harrow Rugby Club, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Caolan Englefield (Gloucester Rugby, Old<br \/>\nRutlishians Rugby, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Lucas Friday (Harlequins, Bromley RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>George Hendy (Northampton Saints, Shipston-on-Stour RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Will Knight (Gloucester Rugby, Longlevens RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Luke Northmore (Harlequins, Tavistock RFC, 2 caps)<\/p>\n<p>Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby, Chippenham RFC, 2 caps)<\/p>\n<p>James Pater (Northampton Saints, Shelford RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Billy Searle (Leicester Tigers, Okehampton RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Will Wand (Leicester Tigers, Spalding RFC, uncapped)<\/p>\n<p>Select your England XV<\/p>\n<p>Think you could do a better job than Steve Borthwick?<\/p>\n<p>Now it&#8217;s your turn to pick the team.<\/p>\n<p>With injuries mounting and several Gallagher PREM stars pushing for a call-up, who would make your starting XV against Australia?<\/p>\n<p>Use RUCK&#8217;s interactive England XV selector below to pick your team, compare your choices with other fans and see who makes the most popular starting line-up.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England A have named their squad to face Argentina XV, with a former M\u0101ori All Blacks forward among&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[256414,5903,118921,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-822466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}