Jones explains his most surprising inclusion of all
Of all the uncapped players named in Eddie Jones’ England squad today, the one that may have caught the most people by surprise was the selection of Bath’s Orlando Bailey.
Not only is he the youngest member of Jones’ squad at 20 years of age, but he also plays in the same position as arguably the form player in England at the moment, George Ford. The Leicester Tigers fly-half’s omission is a cause of bafflement amongst the English public, but Jones shed some light on why he has chosen Bailey and particularly the plans he has for him.
“Orlando Bailey’s done well in a Bath team that are struggling,” Jone said.
“Has come in as a No10, also plays No15 and we also have hopes that he may develop into a ball playing No12.”
When taking into account his versatility, and Jones’ machinations of turning him into an international centre, it is understandable why he has tried to blood Bailey into his squad. Ultimately, it is very unlikely that he is going to feature during the Six Nations given Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell are ahead of him, but this give Jones and his coaching team a chance to start working on him.
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1483461352731594761?s=20
England Squad
Forwards
Alfie Barbeary (Wasps, uncapped)
Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, 5 caps)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 31 caps)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 36 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 4 caps)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 31 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 61 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)
Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 12 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 51 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 90 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 74 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 47 caps)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 15 caps)
Backs
Mark Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
Orlando Bailey (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 94 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Max Malins (Saracens, 10 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 7 caps)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 69 caps)
Luke Northmore (Harlequins, uncapped)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 34 caps)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 2 caps)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 43 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 5 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 112 caps)
