Slade, Dombrandt are casualties as England confirm World Cup squad

Steve Borthwick has officially confirmed his 33-strong England squad for the Rugby World Cup, excluding Jonny May and Henry Slade – who both played in the 2019 final versus South Africa in Japan – along with Alex Dombrandt, the No8 who started all six matches under the new Test-level head coach since his appointment as Eddie Jones’ successor last December.

May, a left wing starter in Yokohama four years ago, wasn’t involved in last Saturday’s Summer Nations Series warm-up loss in Wales, but Slade, a sub in the 2019 decider, played 11 minutes off the bench and Dombrandt was involved for 54 minutes from the start at the Principality.

May, who had yet to be capped under Borthwick, lost out in selection in the heavily congested back three sector along with Joe Cokanasiga, a starter versus Wales, and Cadan Murley.

Joe Marchant’s impressive display in Cardiff dramatically leapfrogged him ahead of Slade in Borthwick’s midfield thinking even though he had started just a single Six Nations match compared to Slade making four starts. Fellow centre Guy Porter was the fifth and final backline casualty.

Switching to the pack, Dombrandt played his way out of contention at the weekend, the player’s latest unconvincing display resulting in the coach opting to take just one specialist No8 to France in Billy Vunipola.

That decision allowed England to select five flankers in the guise of Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Jack Willis, with only the rookie Tom Pearson – a debutant in Wales – missing out in this blindside/openside area.

Elsewhere, Theo Dan emerged as the 2023 World Cup bolter as his debut-making 26 minutes off the bench in Cardiff proved enough to catapult him past last Saturday’s starter Jamie Blamire at hooker.

Lock Jonny Hill and No8 Tom Willis, England’s third debut-maker versus Wales, were the other two forwards excluded.

Borthwick had 43 players with him at Pennyhill at the start of last week to prepare for the opening match in their four-game Summer Series – 41 available for training and two more in injury rehab (Ollie Chessum and Jack Walker).

There was no update given at the time on the status of Mako Vunipola, another who had been in the injury rebab group but was omitted in the July 23 squad update.

The loosehead had returned to Saracens and it was only on Saturday night post-game in Wales, before heading into the selection meeting that confirmed the identity of his chosen 33, when Borthwick admitted that Vunipola would be unavailable due to lack of fitness.

That left the head coach and his selectors with the selection meeting job of paring the numbers down from 43 to 33.

Having decided which 10 players to cut loose, the way was clear for an Owen Farrell-skippered squad with a split of 19 forwards and 14 backs to assemble on Monday for a Twickenham photocall 33 days before their finals campaign begins on September 9 versus Argentina in Marseille.

Ellis Genge and Lawes were named as vice-captains of the squad which has a total over 1,400 combined England appearances combined, with 17 players having previous World Cup experience.

Ben Youngs, Dan Cole, and Lawes will compete in their fourth World Cup, with Youngs travelling as England men’s most-capped player with 122 appearances. The squad also has an average age of 27, with 20-year-old wing Henry Arundell the youngest member of the squad.

Borthwick said: “Rugby World Cups involve unique challenges in terms of the demands on players, the need for squad flexibility and the limited number of squad places available.

“France 2023 is no different, but I am confident we have selected a squad of 33 that is well able to meet those challenges and leave us best placed to be at our most competitive in this exciting tournament.

“There have been a number of very difficult selection decisions to make, given the quality of our wider training squad. Some very good players have missed out on selection such has been the competition for places over the last eight weeks and more of preparation.

“As Saturday’s game in Cardiff proved, we have a series of demanding Test matches through August as we continue that preparation towards our opening Rugby World Cup pool game against an in-form Argentina side.

“We believe that announcing the squad a little earlier than otherwise might have been the case, brings clarity and certainty to the group, allowing the players as much time as possible to settle and develop as a squad.”

England 2023 Rugby World Cup squad:

Forwards (19)

Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 9 caps)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps)

Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 45 caps)

Theo Dan (Saracens, 1 cap)

Ben Earl (Saracens, 15 caps)

Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 49 caps)

Jamie George (Saracens, 77 caps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens, 67 caps)

Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 97 caps)

Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 20 caps)

Joe Marler (Harlequins, 79 caps)

George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)

David Ribbans (Toulon, 6 caps)

Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 3 caps)

Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 62 caps)

Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)

Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 68 caps)

Jack Walker (Harlequins, 3 caps)

Jack Willis (Toulouse, 10 caps)

Backs (14)

Henry Arundell (Racing 92, 7 caps)

Danny Care (Harlequins, 88 caps)

Elliot Daly (Saracens, 57 caps)

Owen Farrell (Saracens, 106 caps)

George Ford (Sale Sharks, 82 caps)

Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)

Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 19 caps)

Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 16 caps)

Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 22 caps)

Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)

Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 51 caps)

Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)

Anthony Watson (unattached, 55 caps)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 122 caps)