A total of 11 Harlequins players have been added to the England training squad to prepare for the tour to New Zealand and match against the Barbarians on June 1.
Mike Brown, Rob Buchanan, Danny Care, Will Collier, Joe Gray, Joe Marler, Charlie Matthews, Chris Robshaw, Kyle Sinckler, Luke Wallace and Dave Ward have all signed up for international duty now Quins' season is over, following Saturday's Premiership play-off semi final defeat to Saracens.
Seven Leciester Tigers players - Anthony Allen, Jamie Gibson, Graham Kitchener, Geoff Parling, Ed Slater, Manusamoa Tuilagi and Ben Youngs have also joined up following their club's own semi final defeat to Northampton.
The players will arrive at the Lensbury Club from Wednesday evening along with Sale Sharks’ James Gaskell and Ross Harrison, while Bath’s Rob Webber joined the squad last night.
Further players will be added from Bath and Wasps following the conclusion of the Amlin Challenge Cup final on May 23 and the European Rugby Champions Cup play-off second leg the following day, with a further group from Saracens and Northampton joining the tour party after the Premiership final a week later.
The final squads for the New Zealand tour and the Barbarians match will be announced at 12pm on Monday, May 26. The first group of players will fly to New Zealand the following day, and the second group will fly out on June 2 following the Aviva Premiership final and Barbarians game, and join the squad in Auckland on June 4 .
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “Following the Aviva Premiership semi-finals we are keen to give the players from Harlequins and Leicester some time away before joining camp and will look to bring them in towards the end of the week. We’ve brought Rob Webber in for further assessment and treatment in order to give him the best possible chance of making the tour to New Zealand. James Gaskell and Ross Harrison are rewarded for their development this season and will be joining up in due course in order to prepare for the Barbarians game.
“We’ll train today and tomorrow and have a larger group for Thursday and Friday. Then, following an assessment of the weekend's games (Amlin Challenge Cup final, European Rugby Champions Cup play-off second leg and the Heineken Cup final) we will meet and narrow down selection for the Barbarians and New Zealand tour and announce both squads on Monday."
