Former captain Jamie George has returned to England’s training squad ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with France.
Maro Itoje had replaced George as England captain and then the hooker suffered a hamstring injury during a match for his club Saracens which threatened to rule him out of the Six Nations.
But he will now return to the England camp.
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After losing 27-22 to Ireland in Dublin in their first match of this year’s Six Nations campaign, England face another challenging assignment when Antoine Dupont’s France travel to the Allianz Stadium on February 8.
George will be a welcome addition to the 35-player training group. He has been restored to Steve Borthwick’s squad sooner than expected and will challenge Luke Cowan-Dickie and Theo Dan for a place in the matchday 23 against France.
Cowan-Dickie started against Ireland and performed well until England fell away following a rousing opening half hour while Dan came in the second half as part of a bench that made little impact.
George’s return will be welcomed as England reflect on a bitterly disappointing opener at the Aviva Stadium that saw the final scoreline distorted by late tries from Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman.
The 34-year-old brings 97 caps worth of experience and was the team’s captain until Itoje was placed in charge for the Six Nations.
England have now lost seven successive matches against tier-one opposition and must beat France to save their tournament heading into the first fallow week.
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The full England squad is as follows:
Forwards:
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Tom Willis (Saracens)
Backs:
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
What’s next?
Ireland travel to face Scotland at Murrayfield next Sunday (3pm) in the second round of the 2025 Six Nations, while England host France at Twickenham on Saturday (4.45pm) with Italy playing Wales in Rome earlier that day (2.15pm).
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