England head out on a cross-continental tour this Summer, with a serious blockbuster trip lined up across Argentina and the United States. As there is a strong English contingent within the British & Irish Lions, Steve Borthwick will be without 12 of his top stars including captain Maro Itoje, with plenty of spots up for grabs for the tour 'across the pond'.
This will open the door for numerous uncapped England hopefuls and fringe players, to stamp their mark down upon a run in the red rose. Tomorrow, Borthwick will name a training squad for a brief two-day get together at England's Bagshot base of Pennyhill Park. The training camp will be the perfect opportunity for the budding England hopefuls to impress the selectors and gel together, before Borthwick nails down his picks for the Summer expedition across the Americas at a later date.
The talented England stars of Northampton Saints and Bath will not be available for selection, as the two Premiership clubs are pushing for a taste of European glory this weekend. Bath take on Lyon in Friday night's EPCR Challenge Cup Final, before the Saints battle Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup Final the following afternoon. Both the blue, black and whites and green, black and golds will be hunting down silverware at Principality Stadium, in what will be a fiery weekend in the Welsh capital of Cardiff.
So, with that in mind, we will be casting our minds into the future and predicting England's squad for the Summer. We can forsee a Summer tour without established England veterans, with the likes of Dan Cole and Jamie George given a rest following their Lions tour omissions. We are going to include all the Saints and Bath stars that we expect will make the grade, as well as an assortment of exciting uncapped 'bolters', who are gunning for their first taste of Test match action.
PREDICTION: ENGLAND SQUAD FOR SUMMER TOUR OF ARGENTINA AND UNITED STATES
PROPS
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks)
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
HOOKERS
Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Gabriel Oghre (Bristol Bears)
LOCKS
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Rus Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
Lewis Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Hugh Tizard (Saracens)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby)
BACK ROW
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Jack Kenningham (Harlequins)
Tom Willis (Saracens)
Alfie Barbeary (Bath Rugby)
SCRUM HALVES
Raffi Querke (Sale Sharks)
Jack van Poortvleit (Leicester Tigers)
Will Porter (Harlequins)
FLY HALVES
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Jamie Shillcock (Leicester Tigers)
CENTRES
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints) (C)
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Will Butt (Bath Rugby)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby)
OUTSIDE BACKS
Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Paul Brown-Bampoe (Exeter Chiefs)
Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol Bears)
Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
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