It has been seven years since Danny Cipriani played in the Six Nations
While we wait for the Irish squad to be named tomorrow, the penultimate team to be named is England, which will be formally announced later today.
However, as is usually the case with the England team, all the English press seem to have been furnished with the squad in advance, so the big news is splashed all over the back pages.
The two shocks are reported to be that 36-year-old Nick Easter and 27-year-old Danny Cipriani have gotten recalls. Easter, who hasn’t played for England since the 2011 World Cup, gets the nod as Ben Morgan has a broken leg. The return of Cipriani is even more Lazarus like.
The Sale man last played for England in the Six Nations in 2008 but he is in line for a place as cover for Kyle Eastmond and Anthony Watson.
Sam Burgess is expected to be named in the Saxons team to play the Wolfhounds in Cork next week and if he does well, he may get promoted to the Six Nations squad after the first game.
Here is the full training squad, according to the Guardian.
England training squad for Wales (probable): Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), A Goode (Saracens), J May (Gloucester), A Watson (Bath), J Nowell (Exeter), L Burrell (Northampton), J Joseph (Bath), B Barritt (Saracens), K Eastmond (Bath), G Ford (Bath), O Farrell (Saracens), S Myler (Northampton), D Cipriani (Sale), D Care (Harlequins), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester).
Forwards: D Hartley (Northampton), R Webber (Bath), T Youngs (Leicester), A Corbisiero (Northampton), J Marler (Harlequins), M Vunipola (Saracens), K Brookes (Newcastle), D Wilson (Bath), D Attwood (Bath), G Kitchener (Leicester), G Kruis (Saracens), G Parling (Leicester), C Clark (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), T Wood (Northampton), N Easter (Harlequins), B Vunipola (Saracens).