England pick 45-man RWC training squad
England manager Martin Johnson named his preliminary 45-man training squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and continued to build an English Foreign Legion.
All the players who represented England in the 2011 RBS Six Nations have been inlcuded with the addition of some new faces. Three of the new faces include the latest in foreign imports, including South African-born lock Mouritz Botha, Samoan-born centre Manu Tuilagi and 8th man Thomas Waldrom from New Zealan.
Former prop Matt Stevens also received a recall to the squad after a stellar season with Saracens, and this only months after returning from a two-year ban for cocaine use. Other players receiving recalls are falnker Chris Robshaw and scrunhalf Richard Wigglesworth.
Mouritz Botha left South Africa in 2006 to join up with English club Bedford Blues before moving to Saracens in 2009, where he has been playing great rugby. Botha qualifies to represent England on the grounds of residency. Tuilagi was born in Samoa but grew up in England where he now plays for the Leicester Tigers while Thomas Waldrom is the younger brother of All Black Scott Waldrom. Thomas signed with Leicester in 2010 after succesful Super Rugby seasons with both the Hurricanes and Crusaders. During the 2011 season Waldrom found out that he is eligible for English selection as his grandmother was born in the country.
Other players in the English Foreign Legion include prop Alex Corbisiero (USA), fullback Delon Armitage (Trinidad), lock Simon Shaw (Kenya), flanker Hendre Fourie (SA), hooker Dylan Hartley(NZ) and centres Shontayne Hape and Riki Flutey(both NZ)
Some of the exclusions that raised eyebrows are lock Steve Borthwick, flanker Tom Johnson and centre Brad Barrit (South Africa).
The 49-man training squad is:
FORWARDS: Mouritz Botha (Saracens), George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Paul Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Hendre Fourie (Sale Sharks), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Unattached), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Lewis Moody (Bath Rugby), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Simon Shaw (London Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Matt Stevens (Saracens), Steve Thompson (London Wasps), Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers), David Wilson (Bath Rugby), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Joe Worsley (London Wasps).
BACKS: Delon Armitage (London Irish), Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Riki Flutey (London Wasps), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Shontayne Hape (London Irish), Charlie Hodgson (Saracens), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby), David Strettle (Saracens), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby), Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
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