Northampton Saints - News : Big Ben back in the England squad for the autumn tests

26 October 2005, 10:36 am

Big Ben back in the England squad for the autumn tests

Cohen's tries have profected him back into the England sqaud

Northampton Saints wing Ben Cohen has been selected for the England squad of 30 ahead of the autumn internationals after he was left out of the initial squad last month. The 27-year-old, one of the few survivors from the World Cup team of 2003, has impressed head coach Andy Robinson with his form for his club including a match-winning try against London Irish and last week's hat-trick against Viadana. He joins his team-mate Steve Thompson in the training squad.

England head coach Andy Robinson OBE announced his final squad today for the Investec Challenge internationals against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa to be played on November 12, 19 and 26 respectively.

Robinson said �I�ve had to make some changes to the squad because of injuries and others are based on current form but all the players involved are there on merit.

�There will be some disappointed players from the first 30-man and stand-by squads I announced last month but I will always stress that the door to selection is open and that I�m sure each of those who have not made it into either squad for the Investec matches will be making a strong case for selection to the RBS 6 Nations over the next few months.

�oe Worsley (London Wasps), Iain Balshaw (Leeds Tykes) and Alex Brown (Gloucester) could not be considered because of injury but we will continue to monitor their progress.

�Ben Cohen (Northampton Saints) has returned to the squad and he has been in excellent form for his club. I feel that he is returning to the form that made him such an important member of the squad two years ago and I�m looking forward to working with him again.

�Olly Barkley (Bath), Tom Voyce (London Wasps), Andy Hazell (Gloucester) and Steve Borthwick (Bath) have all been in outstanding form for their clubs and given me some very difficult decisions to make. They were always in contention by virtue of the fact they were originally in the stand by squad and have all now made the step back up to the senior squad. Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers) was called into the squad when we trained at Loughborough due to injuries to Simon Shaw (London Wasps) and Tom Palmer (Leeds Tykes) and he impressed me in training with England.�

ENGLAND SQUAD

Olly Barkley, Bath
Steve Borthwick, Bath
Ben Cohen, Northampton Saints
Martin Corry, Leicester Tigers (captain)
Mark Cueto, Sale Sharks
Matt Dawson, London Wasps
Louis Deacon, Leicester Tigers
Harry Ellis, Leicester Tigers
Perry Freshwater, Perpignan
James Forrester, Gloucester
Andy Goode, Leicester Tigers
Danny Grewcock, Bath
Andy Hazell, Gloucester
Charlie Hodgson, Sale Sharks
Chris Jones, Sale Sharks
Josh Lewsey, London Wasps
Lee Mears, Bath
Lewis Moody, Leicester Tigers
Jamie Noon, Newcastle Falcons
Peter Richards, Gloucester
Pat Sanderson, Worcester Warriors
Simon Shaw, London Wasps
Andy Sheridan, Sale Sharks
Ollie Smith, Leicester Tigers
Matt Stevens, Bath
Steve Thompson, Northampton Saints
Mike Tindall, Gloucester
Mark van Gisbergen, London Wasps
Phil Vickery, Gloucester
Tom Voyce, London Wasps