Meet the 6 Uncapped Players in Steve Borthwick's England Squad for Summer Tour of Japan & New Zealand

There is an exciting contingent of young players in the announced squad, with uncapped contributions from Harlequins, Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks and 2024 Premiership champions Northampton Saints. Some of the hopefuls have been in and amongst the England camp for a matter of years, whilst others have been fast-tracked from the Premiership to a spot in the touring squad after impressing Borthwick in the past few weeks.

Here is a run through of the six uncapped players in the England squad, starting with an exciting young wing that has recently won the Premiership title.

It has been a whirlwind 48 hours for Ollie Sleightholme, after the young wing helped Northampton Saints win the 2024 Premiership Final against Bath he has now gotten the call-up for an exciting Summer tour across Japan and New Zealand. The 24-year-old has been in flying form for the Saints this season, with his 16 tries (2024 Premiership best) dutifully earning him his first England camp involvement since the 2021 Autumn Internationals.

Sleightholme's first taste of an England environment came in the Eddie Jones era, yet the winger was unable to break out of the wider training group whilst the Australian was in charge. In a sense of Sleightholme's international hopes coming full circle, the Saints man could well mark his England debut against Eddie Jones' Brave Blossoms, with Tokyo's National Stadium providing the first stop on the three match tour of Japan and New Zealand.

Speaking on calling up the wing, England head coach Steve Borthwick said; "You mention Ollie Sleightholme, clearly his point of difference is to beat defenders and find the tryline. The top try-scorer in the Premiership, has incredible pace and we want that in this England team.

"I’ve spoken to him several times throughout the season. I think that, and we can talk a lot about what he does in the attacking side, he’s beaten such a huge number of defenders, and clearly I want people who have that point of difference of scoring tries. The other thing is he’s a very effective defender.You can see how important this defensive system has been to us, over just five games in the Six Nations. And we see him fitting into that system very, very well."

2. Fin Baxter (Harlequins)

The Harlequins and England protégé to Joe Marler, breakthrough loose-head prop Fin Baxter has been named alongside his mentor in the confirmed 36-man squad. Baxter has had an outstanding 2023/24 Premiership season at Quins, having kept both the likes of Marler and Joe Els out of the number one jersey in high profile fixtures. Baxter is amongst those uncapped bolters that were named in the inaugural 19-man squad, and remained in the England camp despite the added arrivals from Saracens, Sale Sharks, Bath and Northampton.

Baxter has featured in 26 fixtures for Quins this season, with 15 starts seeing him secure a claim to the famous quarters. Baxter is certainly the loose-head for the future of the Harlequins front row, and could well return to the Twickenham Stoop a capped international following a Summer on tour in Japan and New Zealand. Baxter has been learning the intricacies of scrumtime under Marler and former Wales prop Adam Jones, who has since taken up a role as Harlequins scrum coach.

Baxter's raw energy and youthful exuberance has since coupled with the wealth of knowledge from the experienced international props. Baxter spoke to the media in a recent England press conference and discussed his England A camp experiences as he took the fight to Portugal, in what was a pivotal step towards his first England cap.

"That was one of my best takeaways from the (England) A game, was meeting all these new lads, playing with new lads. Listening and taking what they had on the table. And with even more boys here from around the Prem has been really cool.

"Today with scrummaging, getting reps with Gabe (Oghre), who I've never scrummaged with before, has been really cool. The way he does is slightly different to what we do at Quins, and then taking those notes. Some of that I really love, some of that I don't. But that's where the conversation happens. That's where we kind of find that perfect balance for us as a front row."

Speaking off Fin Baxter's newest front row partner, Bristol Bears hooker Gabriel Oghre has received his first call-up to an England touring squad this Summer. The 26-year-old's club career began at Wasps in 2017, yet the front row was forced to depart his proving ground once the club entered administration. Oghre has since enjoyed a spell with Leicester Tigers, as well as a half season tenure out in France with Boardeaux-Begles.

Oghre's progression then saw him return to the Premiership for the 2023/24 season, as he arrived at Bristol Bears for an immediate impact. Oghre made his debut for the Bears in the fifth round of the Gallagher Premiership season, in an away defeat to Sale Sharks. It did not take Oghre long to find his way to the Bears points tally, as he scored against Saracens in what was only his third match for the Bristolians.

The hooker has accrued a total of six tries for the Bears this season, with his finest run of try scoring form seeing him cross over for three tries in four weeks. Oghre scored in the first round of Bristol's Champions Cup campaign against Lyon, before following this up with a try against Newcastle Falcons a fortnight later. The front row then made his mark upon the 'new West Country derby', with a try against Exeter Chiefs the following week.

An exciting young fullback that has broken through in the North West, Sale Sharks flyer Joe Carpenter is an exhilarating prospect for an England debut this Summer. The 22-year-old is one third of Sale's rapid back-three trio, as he lines up at 15 with Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed on their respective wings. Carpenter, Roebuck and Reed all motivate each other to pursue their international honours and have all achieved their Summer tour goals following a solid season at the AJ Bell.

Whilst Roebuck joins Carpenter within the England squad for Japan and New Zealand (more on him shortly), Reed has been called up by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, for a Summer tour across North and South America. Carpenter has made the Sale 15 shirt his own this season, and for the past couple of years has been relishing in the belief bestowed upon him by Sale DoR Alex Sanderson. Carpenter started 17 of his 19 Sharks appearances this season, and crossed over for four tries in the process.

Carpenter's breakout season with Sale Sharks was the 2022/23 campaign, which saw his side progress all the way to the Premiership Final. Despite ending the final as eventual silver-medallists to Saracens, Carpenter would have settled for his coming-of-age campaign, that saw him start 22 out of 23 appearances, with his sole replacement cap coming in an away win over Harlequins. The 2022/23 season was Carpenter's recent best, as he crossed over for seven tries, including a mid-season brace against eventual champions Saracens.

Luke Northmore's journey to the England touring squad has come after years of bided patience, with the 27-year-old the oldest uncapped player set to fly out to Japan and New Zealand. Northmore has been apart of Harlequins since 2019, with the one-club man steadily progressing after finishing up his scholarship to Cardiff Metropolitan University. The centre's first run out in the famous quarters took place in a London derby, as Quins were defeated by Saracens in a 2019 Premiership Rugby Cup fixture.

The midfielder did not have to wait long to get his first Quins try, as he scored on only his third cap, coming against Clermont Auvergne in the 2019 Champions Cup pool stages. Northmore is a versatile player that can bolster the England back-line across the inside and outside centre channels and along both wings. His most prominent position is outside centre, with 73% of his caps coming in the 13 jersey. This passed season he routinely swapped the 12 and 13 shirts for Harlequins, which gives Borthwick a multi-tool player that can adapt to numerous scenarios.

Northmore was called up into the England camp the same day as his Harlequins teammate Fin Baxter. Both Quins bolters were named in the initial 19-man training group, and have kept their places following the end of the Premiership season. Speaking on the call-up for his Harlequins teammate, Fin Baxter said; "So excited for him to be here. He's done really well to get back from his injury and come in and play well, which was really nice to see. But yeah, we're just buzzing, buzzing chatting to each other."

The sixth man rounding off our list of uncapped players, Sale wing Tom Roebuck has also had to patiently bide his time for an England debut. Roebuck received his first England camp call-up from Steve Borthwick for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, yet failed to progress further than the wider training group. The match day squads evaded the Sale wing, yet opportunity knocks once more for the electric 23-year-old.

Roebuck could well benefit from a notable England squad omission, as Elliot Daly has stepped away from the camp ahead of the birth of his first child. The Saracen Swiss-army knife was England's go to left wing for the recent Six Nations Championships, with Borthwick preferring the experienced Daly over the young Roebuck. Now could be the time for the Sale man to earn his long awaited debut, and has gone the right way about returning to the squad, following an impressive 2023/24 Premiership campaign that saw him score 12 tries.

England head coach Steve Borthwick shared his view on Roebuck, and has been impressed by the young Sale man's continued drive for a test cap. "As you look at them, Tom Roebuck is a player who was part of that Six Nations squad, who was chomping at the bit for an opportunity in the match day 23. He didn’t get that during the Six Nations, and was disappointed but still so eager to perform in training. And I would say his post-Six Nations return to club, his game’s taken another step forward. He’s another player who I’m excited about what he can achieve in the future."