Four Saints stars named in England training squad

Dylan Hartley, who skippered the Red Rose to a Grand Slam as well as a whitewash in a three-Test series in Australia this year, will be joined in the 45-man group by club-mates Paul Hill, Courtney Lawes and Teimana Harrison.

But there is no place for Luther Burrell, who only enjoyed limited game time during the superb series win against the Wallabies this summer.

England will play South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia on consecutive weekends at Twickenham in November and December, with Eddie Jones’ men looking to finish the calendar year undefeated.

“This camp sets the scene for November,” Jones said.

“It’s important to catch-up with the players prior to the start of the season and continue to put our plans in place.

“Our next game presents us with a huge challenge. England has not beaten South Africa since 2006 and we’ve lost our last five games against the Springboks at Twickenham.

“Not a single player who will attend the pre-season camp has played in a side that has ever beaten South Africa.

“While we acknowledge that we’re moving in the right direction we also recognise that defeat is never far away.

“It’s important the players all keep trying to improve and push themselves to reach new standards in their game.

“We cannot afford to have any complacency in our approach to this Test.”

England’s 45-man provisional EPS for this month’s training camp

Forwards

Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)

Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Will Evans (Leicester Tigers)

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)

Jamie George (Saracens)

Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers)

Teimana Harrison (Saints)

Dylan Hartley (Saints)

James Haskell (Wasps)

Paul Hill (Saints)

Nathan Hughes (Wasps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens)

George Kruis (Saracens)

Joe Launchbury (Wasps)

Courtney Lawes (Saints)

Joe Marler (Harlequins)

Matt Mullan (Wasps)

Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)

Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)

Billy Vunipola (Saracens)

Mako Vunipola (Saracens)

Mike Williams (Leicester Tigers)

Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins)

Danny Care (Harlequins)

Elliott Daly (Wasps)

Owen Farrell (Saracens)

George Ford (Bath Rugby)

Alex Goode (Saracens)

Mike Haley (Sale Sharks)

Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)

Joe Marchant (Harlequins)

Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)

Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)

Dan Robson (Wasps)

Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby)

Joe Simpson (Wasps)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)

Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)

Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)

Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)

Marland Yarde (Harlequins)Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)