Borthwick names 36-man England squad with Spencer and Hill among notable omissions

Steve Borthwick has named a 36-man England training squad for a three-day camp at Pennyhill Park, with Bath scrum-half Ben Spencer and flanker Ted Hill among the notable absentees as preparations begin for the Nations Championship.

The squad assembled on Sunday and will train at England’s Performance Centre through to Tuesday. England open their Nations Championship campaign against Australia at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on November 8, with further fixtures against Japan and New Zealand to follow later in the month.

Maro Itoje is back in the fold after being given the summer off, while Harlequins loosehead Fin Baxter and Sale Sharks centre Joe Marchant also return to the setup. Will Stuart, Ben Curry, Emmanuel Iyogun, Tom Pearson and Kepueli Tuipulotu are further returnees from the June window.

Alongside Spencer and Hill, Vilikesa Sela, Charlie Ewels, George Kloska and Theo Dan — all of whom featured in the June window — have not been selected. Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Guy Pepper are listed as being in injury rehabilitation.

The short camp gives Borthwick a chance to reunite his players following the opening weeks of the domestic Premiership season and begin fine-tuning his plans ahead of what is a demanding November schedule.

Full squad:

Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Ben Earl (Saracens), Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs), Jamie George (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints), George Martin (Saracens), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), Tom Pearson (Northampton Saints), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby), Kepueli Tuipulotu (Bath Rugby).

Backs: Noah Caluori (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), George Furbank (Harlequins), Will Joseph (Gloucester Rugby), Joe Marchant (Sale Sharks), Archie McParland (Northampton Saints), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers).