Sunday 22 May 2016 19:56, UK
Chris Ashton and Danny Cipriani have been left out of the England squad for the summer tour of Australia, with Leicester prop Ellis Genge the shock inclusion.
Loosehead Genge is one of four uncapped players in Eddie Jones' 32-man squad, the others being Harlequins tighthead Kyle Sinckler, New Zealand-born Northampton back-row Teimana Harrison and Leinster's Worcester-bound Auckland-born centre Ben Te'o.
Genge, 21, began this season at Championship side Bristol, before moving on loan to Leicester in February this year. The 18.5-stone, 6'1" prop has played in just two Aviva Premiership matches, making his debut earlier this month.
Exeter centre Henry Slade returns to the England squad having missed the Six Nations through injury.
Ashton, a European champion and Aviva Premiership finalist with Saracens this season, and Wasps-bound fly-half Cipriani have again been overlooked by Jones.
Jones told Sky Sports News HQ: "Ashton is obviously unlucky - he has scored a lot of tries for a very strong team but there are areas of his game we'd like to see him work on."
On Cipriani, he said: "The door is always open, he knows that - but again there are areas of his game he needs to work at."
Manu Tuilagi (hamstring) and Owen Farrell were both included despite suffering injuries in Saturday's Premiership play-off semi-final. Jones has no worries over Farrell but he confirmed Tuilagi's inclusion is "in the balance."
"At the moment we don't know if he'll be on the tour," Jones said. "He'll be examined by the Leicester staff more intensely on Monday."
Jones has also named a 26-man squad for next week's match with Wales at Twickenham, which does not include any Saracens or Exeter men as they will be playing in the Premiership final.
"We have selected two squads of players who can win all four games," said Jones. "It's important we get off to a good start against Wales and play positive rugby and win.
"We are excited to being touring Australia in June. To beat the Wallabies in Australia you have to play a physical, aggressive brand of rugby and that's what we intend to do. We will need to be a fit, cohesive, tactically flexible team and play with a high intensity. We have to be in their faces from the first minute of the first Test."
"But we are in no doubt of the challenge we face. England have only ever won three Tests in Australia and never won in Brisbane, so it is a great opportunity for us to create new history.
"We are still a young squad with an average age of 24 so this will be a big learning experience. This will be the first time many of the players will have toured Australia so there's no historical baggage there and mentally we'll be in a good place off the back of the Six Nations.
"The Grand Slam was just the start of our journey. We're ranked fourth in the world and are still developing our identity and we have a long way to go to get to where we ultimately want to be. This tour will provide a good chance for us to measure up to the southern hemisphere and try to close that gap.
"Australia are the second-ranked team in the world and their coach is the World Rugby coach of the year, so their supporters will expect a positive result from them. We will upset the apple cart."
Australia tour squad:
Forwards: Dan Cole, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Clifford, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Teimana Harrison, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Paul Hill, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Matt Mullan, Chris Robshaw, Kyle Sinckler, Billy Vunipola, Mako Vunipola
Backs: Mike Brown, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, George Ford, Alex Goode, Jonathan Joseph, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Te'o, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson, Marland Yarde, Ben Youngs
Squad v Wales:
Forwards: Dave Attwood, Dan Cole, Jack Clifford, Ellis Genge, Dylan Hartley, Teimana Harrison, James Haskell, Paul Hill, Matt Kvesic, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Matt Mullan, Chris Robshaw, Kyle Sinckler, Tommy Taylor
Backs: Mike Brown, Luther Burrell , Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Ollie Devoto, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson, Marland Yarde, Ben Youngs,
