England Six Nations Squad 2022: Barbeary in, Underhill out

Eddie Jones has named his England Six Nations Squad 2022 ahead of their tournament opener against Scotland at Murrayfield.

There are six new faces in the squad: Orlando Bailey, Alfie Barbeary, Ollie Chessum, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Luke Northmore.

Off the back of a promising autumn, England head into the competition looking to bounce back from a woeful 2021 campaign which saw them finish fifth for the second time in four years, above only Italy.

A first defeat to Scotland at Twickenham since 1983 was followed by defeats on the road in Wales and Ireland, as England equalled their worst-ever championship performances of 1987 and 2018.

November brought fresh introductions to the squad – eight uncapped players, plus a further 14 with under 10 caps – and with it positive results, with victories over Tonga, Australia and South Africa.

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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,” said Jones.

“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.”

England Six Nations 2022 Fixtures

Saturday 5 February: Scotland v England (16:45)
Sunday 13 February: Italy v England (15:00)
Saturday 26 February: England v Wales (16:45)
Saturday 12 March: England v Ireland (16:45)
Saturday 19 March: France v England (20:00)