5 Exciting Uncapped 'Bolters' for England's Summer Tour of Argentina & USA

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Many see this tour as an opportunity to develop young talent, with the British and Irish Lions tour seeing plenty of spots for new players to come in and potentially impress.

14 uncapped players have been selected in this squad with more to potentially come from Bath and Saints. Here are five uncapped players to look out for in the summer.

Bath youngster Donoghue has burst onto the scene recently as a versatile fly-half/ fullback. Having only recently broken into the Bath team, he has put in some outstanding performances for Johann van Graan’s side.

While he is not included in this training squad due to Bath’s involvement in the Challenge Cup final, he is someone who is firmly on Steve Borthwick’s radar. The youngster also qualifies for Ireland and it is unclear which nation he will choose to represent at present. Tying him down to England could prove to be a shrewd move going forward.

Speaking on Donoghue’s qualities and chances of playing for England, the England boss said, “He’s got exceptional pace and he's a player that I've spoke to Lee Blackett about a number of times and Lee knows him really well, obviously coaching with him, coached him coaching him there at Bath and then Leo's part of the England touring party this summer.”

Leicester Tigers back row Ilione has starred in his cameos so far this season, having largely been deployed off the bench by Michael Cheika, but having a real impact in his time on the pitch. He has been picked for this training camp, which could see him being picked for the tour and potentially getting his first senior cap for England.

Borthwick explained his decision to pick the 23-year-old, saying, “His carry and the power he's brought to the carry has been very good. But in particular, I think the contest of the breakdown. His jackalling skills. And if you look at what emerged for England over the last period of time in the Six Nations, especially, was the strength of the team had from a jackalling perspective.

“I think when we start looking at the back row I'm selecting, we start looking at how test rugby is different in some ways to Premiership rugby particularly around the contact area, and the level of contest, so having lots of good jackallers is an important aspect, and that's what really stood out to me.”

However, with Bath especially having a few players in the back row that could also be in contention, his place in the squad for Argentina isn’t guaranteed.

A player who has had a meteoric rise over the past season, Ma’asi White has gone from playing for Championship side Caldy in December 2024, to being picked for a senior England training camp.

Highly regarded by Sale Sharks for the past few years, the centre was personally tutored by family friend and former Sale man Manu Tuilagi when he was at the club. Many see him as the heir apparent to the gap that Manu left at the Salford Community Stadium.

England’s centres have been questioned recently and Ollie Lawrence’s injury paired with Henry Slade’s lack of form could give an upcoming talent the chance to shine.

Afo Fasogbon has been on the radar of English rugby fans since the start of the season, when he outscrummed and waved off international loosehead Ellis Genge during Gloucester’s win over Bristol Bears earlier on in the campaign.

That show of pure power alongside a huge amount of confidence really put the young prop’s name into the limelight. An Achillies injury suffered in December saw him miss three months of the season, but he has returned and put in some big shifts for the Cherry and Whites in their push for the top four.

Now he has the chance to impress Borthwick at international level, speaking on the strength of the front row as a whole, the England boss said, “These are really good players who are fighting for an opportunity in the England team, so I see that as being an important step for us come the Autumn.”

Uncapped Gloucester lock Clark has perhaps benefitted from the position being so strong, with Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum being selected to the Lions.

Add to the mix the fact that George Martin is confirmed to be missing the tour due to injury and there are three spots available in the second row that may not have otherwise been available.

When asked about which position was most up for grabs, Borthwick echoed this sentiment and said, “Clearly, as you've seen, the second rows I have selected over the last period of generally been Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, George Martin, and then you saw Alex Coles had been around the squad for a period of time and he was part of the Six Nations squad, and you saw me play Chandler Cunningham-South and Ted Hill at second row in the Six Nations.”

“I think that is certainly an area of the team where we've got the most operators who aren't available this summer and there's to be opportunity for some other players to come through.”

The door has been opened for Clark to show that he is a Test level player and while he has a long way to go take Itoje or Martin’s shirts, he could mark his card as being the next one up.

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