Chiefs trio to face Barbarians

Three Exeter Chiefs players have been named by England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster in a 24-man squad to play the Barbarians at Twickenham next Sunday (May 31).

Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, scrum-half Will Chudley and fly-half Henry Slade will all feature against the world renowned representative side.

In total Lancaster has named 10 players from his 50-man World Cup training squad for the game with Northampton’s Lee Dickson skippering the side.

The other Rugby World Cup training squad members named are Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons); Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks); Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs); Elliot Daly (Wasps); Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints); Joe Launchbury (Wasps); Matt Mullan (Wasps); Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs); Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers) and Marland Yarde (Harlequins).

The fixture will provide an opportunity for those who narrowly missed out on initial selection for the 50-man training squad to press their claims as well as allowing a number of up-and-coming players to work with Lancaster and his senior coaching group.

Players from Saracens and Bath, who will contest the Premiership final the day before, were not considered for selection. Players from Gloucester are also not available as they will now contest the European Rugby Champions Cup play-off final after beating Connacht this afternoon.

Dave Ewers (Exeter Chiefs) was not considered for selection due to an injury (concussion) he picked up during round 21 of the Premiership.

Lancaster said: “This is an exciting squad with a good mix of young players who have performed well in the Premiership this season, players on the fringes of the World Cup squad and those already selected.

“It gives us some valuable time together before the training camps begin next month to assess those who could come into the group before the World Cup and also a chance to assess those who should come into the reckoning beyond 2015.

“The Barbarians team is full of quality and experienced internationals who will play together this week against Ireland ahead of our game so it will provide a real test for this group and we are looking forward to that challenge.”

The Barbarians, led by Head Coach Robbie Deans, have assembled a stellar line-up with players from 10 countries and a combined total of 786 caps.

The latest names to be added are former England wing Ugo Monye, who will play his final game before retirement, and New Zealand World Cup winner Brad Thorne.

The squad also includes Welsh Lions Alex Cuthbert and Adam Jones, as well as Toulon try machine David Smith, All Blacks legend Joe Rokocoko and Exeter Chiefs and England star Thomas Waldrom.

England XV squad to play Barbarians:

Backs

Will Chudley (Exeter Chiefs)

Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks)

Elliot Daly (Wasps)

Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints, capt)

Shane Geraghty (London Irish)

Alex Lewington (London Irish)

Mathew Tait (Leicester Tigers)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)

Christian Wade (Wasps)

Marland Yarde (Harlequins)

Forwards

Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks)

Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)

Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Jake Cooper-Woolley (Wasps)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)

Gareth Denman (Northampton Saints)

Jon Fisher (Northampton Saints)

James Gaskell (Wasps)

Joe Launchbury (Wasps)

Matt Mullan (Wasps)

Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers)

Tommy Taylor (Sale Sharks)

Alex Waller (Northampton Saints)

Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)

Tickets for the England XV v Barbarians match are priced from £35 and £15 for juniors (U16) at www.ticketmaster.co.uk or 0844 847 2492.