Bath prop Beno Obano and Newcastle flanker Gary Graham have been called up to England training for the first time.
Obano, 23, and Graham, 25, are part of a 34-man training squad named by England boss Eddie Jones for a two-day camp in Brighton starting on 1 January.
Saracens winger Nathan Earle is also included but Courtney Lawes is rested for personal reasons, while Elliot Daly and Nathan Hughes are injured.
James Haskell is recalled while injured number eight Billy Vunipola will also attend as champions England start their preparations for the Six Nations – their first match is against Italy in Rome on Sunday, 4 February.
“This camp in Brighton is important for us to set the tone as a squad ahead of the Six Nations,” said Jones, who will name his squad for the Six Nations on Thursday, 18 January.
“We will need to improve if we are to hunt down our opponents and beat them.”
Flanker Graham is a former Scotland Under-20 international who only joined Newcastle this summer from Championship side Jersey Reds.
His father George, a prop, won 25 caps for Scotland.
England training squad:
Backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Nathan Earle (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Piers Francis (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Marcus Smith (Harlequins)*, Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks), Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Forwards: Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Jamie George (Saracens), Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby)*, Beno Obano (Bath Rugby), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
*apprentices
bbc
Edinburgh v Kings coming up in under an hour.
Edinburgh team looks quite strong compared to the Kings who will be rusty after some weeks off. Was thinking along the lines of a big Edinburgh, however there is quite a bit of rain in Edinburgh area at moment, it is moving but even if it is dry during the game the field will be quite wet and this may slow things down a bit and also make for many handling errors so possibly keep the score down to lower than expected.
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