Simmonds gets England call

By Mark Stevens
9/11/17

Exeter Chiefs back-row forward Sam Simmonds is in line to make his England debut after he was today called up to the England squad.

Head coach Eddie Jones has turned to the 22-year-old after Sale's Tom Curry was ruled out of Saturday's Old Mutual Wealth Series encounter with Argentina at Twickenham because of a wrist injury.

Simmonds, who has enjoyed an outstanding start to the season - scoring five tries in the process, was initially released by Jones earlier this week having been part of the training camps in both Portugal and Pennyhill Park.

The promotion of Simmonds into the match-day squad means there will now be three Chiefs players included on Saturday, with Henry Slade starting at inside centre, while tight-head prop Harry Williams will line-up alongside Simmonds on the bench.

Eddie Jones said: “As a squad we have been preparing for this game since our first camp in August and are excited about playing in front of 82,000 fans at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday. This is our best 23 selected in what is our most important game this year. We know that Argentina is a strong team - Rugby World Cup semi-finalists in 2015 – and we will have to be smart and play well to beat them.”

England team to play Argentina

15 Mike Brown (Harlequins 62 caps)

14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby 26 caps)

13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby 33 caps)

12 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs 7 caps)

11 Elliot Daly (Wasps 13 caps)

10 George Ford (Bath Rugby 37 caps)

9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers 70 caps)

1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens 42 caps)

2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints 86 caps, capt)

3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers 74 caps)

4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints 58 caps)

5 George Kruis (Saracens 20 caps)

6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins 56 caps)

7 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby 1 cap)

8 Nathan Hughes (Wasps 10 caps)

16 Jamie George (Saracens 17 caps)

17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers 3 caps)

18 Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs 2 caps)

19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps 44 caps)

20 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs uncapped)

21 Danny Care (Harlequins 73 caps)

22 Alex Lozowski (Saracens 2 caps)

23 Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby 2 caps)