Henry Arundell returns to England squad

Telegraph

a day ago

Arundell, who also qualified for Wales and Scotland, scored a memorable try with his very first touch as an England player when he came off the bench against Australia in 2022. After Eddie Jones was fired as England head coach, Arundell continued to appear under Borthwick through the 2023 Six Nations. When London Irish went into administration, there was no shortage of interest in Arundell but he chose to sign for French big spenders Racing 92.
Borthwick was given special dispensation to pick him as well as Toulouse's Jack Willis for the 2023 World Cup and Arundell scored a record-equalling five tries against Chile in a pool stage match. Despite that feat, Arundell did not feature again until the bronze-medal match against Argentina, which proved to be his last act in an England shirt as pressure from Premiership Rugby forced the Rugby Football Union to close its loophole on selecting overseas players.
However with Arundell set to join Bath this summer, Borthwick has been able to add the 22-year-old to his training squad with England facing a France XV at Twickenham on June 21 before their tour of Argentina and the United States.
Arundell returns to a much-changed England side both in terms of personnel and philosophy. At the 2023 World Cup, England relied upon their wings to predominantly chase high balls, which did not suit his skillset. Despite a great start to life in France where he scored a hat-trick on his debut, his experience with Racing 92 has not always been a happy one and at points this season he looked shorn of the confidence he possessed three years ago.
Arundell faces strong competition for places in the England back three spots with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Cadan Murley, Ollie Sleightholme and Tom Roebuck already included in a training squad which does not feature any players from Bath or Leicester as well as England's Lions contingent.