Eddie Jones has included six uncapped players in his 36-man England squad as they begin preparations for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations.
Fly-half Orlando Bailey, full-back Tommy Freeman, winger Ollie Hassell-Collins, centre Luke Northmore and forwards Ollie Chessum and Alfie Barbeary have all been selected.
Owen Farrell will captain England but will face stiff competition for the No.10 shirt from Marcus Smith, who impressed with his performances at fly-half in the Autumn Nations Series.
Smith’s inclusion could see Farrell move to inside centre, a position he has occupied on numerous occasions alongside George Ford in the past – as well as in England’s victory over Australia in Novemeber.
Elsewhere, Ben Youngs could become his country’s most-capped player during the Championship, having been selected as one of three scrum-halves along with Raffi Quirke and Harry Randall.
Refereeing appointments announced for 2022 Guinness Six Nations
Youngs made his England debut in March 2010 and is just two caps behind Jason Leonard (114 caps), while Kyle Sinckler also in line for a milestone of his own in the Championship as he approaches his 50th cap.
The squad will meet in Brighton on Monday for a five-day training camp before regrouping at Pennyhill Park ahead of their first game, against Scotland, at BT Murrayfield (5 February).
Jones said: “Selecting this squad has been a difficult task, we’ve got plenty of good young players coming through and some of our more experienced are rediscovering their best form.
“We think this 36 for the first training week reflects a good balance of that experience and up-and-coming talent.
“In Brighton we’ll focus on getting the fundamentals of our game in play right and developing the cohesion of the team.
“The Six Nations is going to be the most competitive we’ve ever seen. All the countries performed well in the autumn, so we need to be at our best and improve with every game.”
Following the Scotland game, England travel to Rome to play Italy on (13 February) before returning for home games at Twickenham against Wales (26 February) and Ireland (12 March).
They finish their campaign in Paris against France on 19 March.
FULL 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)
