4 February 2008

A 24-strong England Saxons training squad met today ahead of this Saturday’s match against Italy A in Ragusa, Sicily (kick off 6.15pm local time).

As a result of senior call ups for Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons) and Shane Geraghty (London Irish), Guinness Premiership commitments and injury, there are a number of changes to the squad that defeated Ireland A 31-13 at Welford Road last Friday.

The squad will train at Carrington Training Ground near Heathrow before flying to Sicily this Thursday.

England Saxons Head Coach Steve Bates will announce the starting team and replacements on Wednesday morning (6 February).

England Saxons training squad
Forwards
David Attwood (Bristol Rugby)*
Alex Clarke (Bristol Rugby)
Alex Crockett (Bath Rugby)
Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons)
Tom Guest (Harlequins)*
Jason Hobson (Bristol Rugby)
Nick Kennedy (London Irish)
Andrew Long (Newcastle Falcons)*
David Paice (London Irish)
Peter Short (Bath Rugby)*
Andrew Springay (Bayonne)*
Will Skinner (Harlequins)*
David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
Ben Woods (Newcastle Falcons)

Backs
Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
Delon Armitage (London Irish)
Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie)*
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)*
James Grindal (Newcastle Falcons)*
Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
Adrian Jarvis (Harlequins)*
Topsy Ojo (London Irish)*
John Rudd (Newcastle Falcons)*

* Not in original 32 man England Saxons Six Nations training squad.

Full player and management profiles and headshots are available from www.rfu.com/profiles.  For further information on fixtures and previous results please go to www.rfu.com/saxons.

England Saxons Fixtures and Results
England Saxons 31-13 Ireland A, Friday 1 February (7.45pm), Welford Road
Italy A v England Saxons, Saturday 9 February (6.15pm local time), Stadio Aldo Campo, Ragusa, Sicily.

Ends