England axe old guard for Six Nations
Tindall, Cueto, Easter dropped
England interim coach Stuart Lancaster signalled his determination to herald a new era for the side after dropping several senior players from the Six Nations squad he unveiled yesterday.
Mike Tindall, the 2003 World Cup winner whose off-field drinking exploits in New Zealand cast a shadow over what was in any event a lacklustre on-field performance at least year’s edition, was dropped and so were wing Mark Cueto and No.8 Nick Easter.
In all, there were 13 changes from the World Cup squad, with nine uncapped players included in the 32-man list announced by Lancaster for his first tournament in charge since being given temporary control following the resignation of former manager Martin Johnson.
Rising backline star Owen Farrell and Saracens team-mate Brad Barritt both received their first senior call-ups along with Harlequins centre Jordan Turner-Hall and Northampton scrum-half Lee Dickson – one of eight Saints players in the squad.
Also included was uncapped Scarlets No.8 Ben Morgan, who recently declared his allegiance to England over Wales.
Fly-half or centre Toby Flood is the most experienced member of the squad with 46 caps, although he is set to miss Six Nations champions England’s tournament opener away to Scotland on February 4 through injury.
Jonny Wilkinson, former captain Lewis Moody and 2003 World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson have all retired while Simon Shaw and James Haskell are ineligible for selection under Rugby Football Union rules after signing for overseas clubs.
Morgan and Tom Palmer are in the squad even though they play for the Scarlets and Paris-based Stade Francais respectively be-cause their contracts pre-date the RFU’s club ruling.