Joe Marchant and Will Joseph recalled as England handed injury worries ahead of Nations Championship

Centres Joe Marchant and Will Joseph have been recalled to the England squad with Steve Borthwick facing a number of backline injury worries ahead of their November Tests.

Marchant has not featured for his country since joining Stade Francais after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but became available again having joined Sale in the summer.

Joseph, meanwhile, has been in eye-catching Gallagher Prem form for Gloucester, and will look to press to earn a first cap since making his debut on the 2022 tour to Australia.

The pair are included with Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who earned his first cap in July, absent following a nasty head injury earlier this month for Bristol, while Seb Atkinson will only be in camp for rehabilitation with England’s Nations Championship game against Australia less than a fortnight away.

Flanker Guy Pepper is another rehabbing in camp, with Tom Pearson included in the back row mix. Bath youngster Kepu Tuipulotu is preferred to Theo Dan, Gabriel Oghre and others as the third hooker in a 36-man group that will assemble at Pennyhill Park for a two-day camp on Sunday.

Northampton scrum half Archie McParland is another uncapped inclusion, while Fin Baxter is named having made his return to action after 10 months out for Harlequins against Saracens. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will join the rehab group, with hope that he, Pepper and Atkinson will be fit for England’s opener, but Chandler Cunningham-South requires surgery on an ankle injury and will miss the upcoming fixtures.

The squad will be released back to their clubs on Tuesday for one more round of Prem fixtures ahead of the Nations Championship’s resumption. Along with the Wallabies, England also face Japan and New Zealand in November, before featuring on the first finals weekend of the competition at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

England training squad (36)

Prop: Fin Baxter, Ellis Genge, Joe Heyes, Emmanuel Iyogun, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Will Stuart.

Hooker: Jamie George, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Kepueli Tuipulotu

Lock: Ollie Chessum, Arthur Clark, Alex Coles, Maro Itoje, George Martin.

Back row: Ben Curry, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Greg Fisilau, Tom Pearson, Henry Pollock.

Scrum half: Archie McParland, Alex Mitchell, Jack van Poortvliet.

Fly half: George Ford, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith.

Centre: Fraser Dingwall, Will Joseph, Joe Marchant, Max Ojomoh, Henry Slade.

Back three: Noah Caluori, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Cadan Murley, Freddie Steward.