After a Six Nations Grand Slam and a whitewash series victory in Australia in his first year in charge of the England rugby team Eddie Jones has a lot to live up to. The Australian has chosen his 45 Elite Player Squad ahead of this autumn's series.
Jones' side will take on South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia in the Old Mutual Wealth Series in November and December as England chase down becoming number one team in the world. At the end of October the head coach will name his squad for the series but for now he has named 45 for the rest of the season with 37 of those names to attend a three day training camp in Brighton.
Jones is currently without James Haskell, Jack Clifford, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May through injury. Farrell is included in the 37 man squad although it's not known yet when he'll return to action for Saracens. His Sarries teammate and fellow fly-half Alex Lozowski has been included in the 45 man selection but Danny Cipriani continues to miss out.
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Here's the 37 man squad for the training camp at the beginning of October:
Forwards Josh Beaumont, Sam Jones, Mike Williams, and Nathan Hughes all make the squad for the first time. In the backs Dan Robson, Ben Te'o and Joe Marchant are all in their first EPS squad even though Te'o was part of the successful squad in Australia but didn't play.
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Ben Morgan makes a surprise return, featuring for the first time since the former Australia head coach took over from Stuart Lancaster.
Speaking about all the injuries Jones said, "With a number of players missing through injury it's a good opportunity for others to put their hands up and show us what they're made of.
"I think it's a good situation to be in. Injuries allow us to strengthen the depth of our squad and develop robustness. Ideally, by the Rugby World Cup in 2019, we're looking to have three players in every position who are interchangeable."
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