Six Nations Championship England squadLawrence Dallaglio was recalled to the England training squad yesterday, 17 months after the former captain retired from the international game.
The Wasps number eight, the only man to play every minute of the victorious 2003 World Cup campaign in Australia, said last year he was keen to return, though his tour with the Lions ended with a broken ankle in his first game in June.
The last of his 73 England caps came in the 51-15 defeat by Australia in Brisbane last June, the end of a dispiriting tour which he said this week contributed to his decision to retire.
The 33-year-old's inclusion in a 36-man squad named by coach Andy Robinson for the Six Nations championship was always likely since the suspended Lewis Moody and injured Pat Sanderson will be desperately short of game time before England's opener against Wales on February 4th.
However, Dallaglio faces a challenge to make the starting XV for that Twickenham clash as Robinson made it clear Martin Corry would continue to captain the team.
Also included in the squad is uncapped 22-year-old flanker Magnus Lund, whose performances have helped Sale to the top of the Premiership and into the Heineken European Cup quarter-finals.
"This is a dream come true," said Lund. "Who would have thought at the start of the season that by mid-January, Sharks would be top of the Premiership, top of Pool One in the European Cup and I would be called up to join the England training squad? It has all come as a bit of a shock, but I am obviously delighted."
Locks Alex Brown (Gloucester) and Simon Shaw (Wasps), originally in the squad for last November's matches before pulling out through injury, are also included along with Dallaglio's backrow colleague Joe Worsley.
"I am excited about the players we have available to us and as coaches we are looking forward to working with them," Robinson said. "I have selected a large squad because of the Heineken Cup and Guinness Premiership games over the next two weekends which may take their toll."
Meanwhile, England prop Phil Vickery is facing an uncertain playing future after suffering fresh injury problems.
Vickery has been hit by a recurrence of back trouble which could mean a lengthy absence from the game.
The 29-year-old has already undergone two major back operations during an injury-hit career, and he is only too well aware that his former Gloucester and England frontrow colleague Trevor Woodman was forced into retirement by similar problems.
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan said: "The injury is being controlled by the right people. But as yet, there is no definite indication of how long he will be unavailable."
ENGLAND TRAINING SQUAD: BACKS: S Abbott (Wasps), O Barkley (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton), M Cueto (Sale), M Dawson (Wasps), H Ellis (Leicester), A Goode (Leicester), C Hodgson (Sale), J Lewsey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), P Richards (Gloucester), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), M Tindall (Gloucester), M van Gisbergen (Wasps), T Varndell (Leicester), T Voyce (Wasps). FORWARDS: S Borthwick (Bath), A Brown (Gloucester), G Chuter (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester, captain), L Dallaglio (Wasps), L Deacon (Leicester), J Forrester (Gloucester), P Freshwater (Perpignan), D Grewcock (Bath), C Jones (Sale), M Lund (Sale), L Mears (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), P Sanderson (Worcester), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale), M Stevens (Bath), S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps).
