England Rugy Players

There are six changes to the Elite Player Squad with Alex Brown (Gloucester Rugby), Hill, Robinson, Paul Sackey (London Wasps), Matt Stevens (Bath Rugby) and Ward-Smith replacing Lawrence Dallaglio, Simon Shaw, Mark Van Gisbergen (all London Wasps), and the injured Andrew Sheridan, Charlie Hodgson (both Sale Sharks) and Michael Lipman (Bath Rugby). The senior squad will train at Twickenham Stadium on January 22, 23 and 24 and Ashton added: “I am delighted to welcome back players like Richard Hill, Alex Brown and Matt Stevens to the EPS squad but I’m sure that those players left out will see this as a gauntlet thrown down to prove that they are good enough to be part of England’s defence of the World Cup.”

England RBS 6 Nations squad

Forwards: Alex Brown (Gloucester Rugby), George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Perry Freshwater (Perpignan), Danny Grewcock (Bath Rugby), Magnus Lund (Sale Sharks), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Tom Palmer (London Wasps), Tom Rees (London Wasps), Steve Thompson (Northampton Saints), Phil Vickery (capt, London Wasps), Dan Ward-Smith (Bristol Rugby), Julian White (Leicester Tigers), Joe Worsley (London Wasps).

Backs: Iain Balshaw (Gloucester Rugby), Mike Catt (London Irish), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers), Andy Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons), Shane Geraghty (London Irish), Josh Lewsey (London Wasps), Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons), Shaun Perry (Bristol Rugby), Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks), Peter Richards (Gloucester Rugby), Paul Sackey (London Wasps), Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby), Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons).
England Saxons squad
Forwards: Alex Clarke (Bristol Rugby), Steve Borthwick (Bath Rugby), Chris Brooker (Bath Rugby), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Nick Easter (NEC Harlequins), James Forrester (Gloucester Rugby), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (London Wasps), Richard Hill (Saracens), Chris Jones (Sale Sharks), Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers), Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors), Dean Schofield (Sale Sharks), Andy Titterrell (Sale Sharks), Stuart Turner (Sale Sharks), David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby).

Backs: Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), Stuart Abbott (NEC Harlequins), Anthony Allen (Gloucester Rugby), Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby), Michael Brown (NEC Harlequins), Ben Cohen (Northampton Saints), Ben Foden (Sale Sharks), Ryan Lamb (Gloucester Rugby), Olly Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby), Dave Strettle (NEC Harlequins), Chev Walker (Bath Rugby), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Nick Walshe (Bath Rugby), Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks).