Worcester Warriors duo Matt Mullan and Graham Kitchener have today been named by England in the squad for Sunday’s match against the Barbarians at Twickenham Stadium (2.30pm).
Mullan, who has represented England at the Under 20’s level, made his debut during 2007 at the Six Nations campaign. He has previously been selected for the England Saxons team against Ireland A, in April 2009, however due to poor weather conditions the game was cancelled. More recently, Matt replaced the injured Andrew Sheridan for the 2010 Six Nations Championship, and made his senior debut as a replacement against Italy on February 14, 2010.
Kitchener has also represented England from an early age; he has played for the team at the Under 16, 18 and 20 levels. Kitchener played a part in the Under 20 Six Nations Grand Slam in 2008 and just a year later, he played a crucial part of the 2009 Under 20’s as he helped take the team through to the final of the Junior World Championship in Japan. The highly-rated lock earned a call-up in May 2010 to the England Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup during the summer in the United States.
There are 11 players capped at senior level in the 24-man group, with fly half Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) the most experienced and the likes of Ugo Monye (Harlequins), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby) and Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby) providing the cutting edge.
But the overall accent is firmly on youth in a squad with an average age of 24 years and two months. Eight are graduates of the England Under 20 sides that reached IRB Junior World Championship finals in 2008 and 2009 and there are two 20-year-olds in the shape of props Joe Marler (Harlequins) and Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons).
There is also a potential first appearance in an England shirt in the 15-a-side game in store for Exeter Chiefs flanker Tom Johnson while eight players were in European Cup final action for Harlequins and Northampton Saints over the weekend. Leicester Tigers and Saracens players are unavailable for this game due to the Aviva Premiership final taking place at Twickenham Stadium the previous day.
The side for the non-capped match will be prepared by the England Saxons head coach Stuart Lancaster and assisted by Jon Callard and Simon Hardy.
“It’s a great opportunity for all the players who are looking to force their way into Martin Johnson’s plans for the World Cup and those who will go on to defend the Churchill Cup with the England Saxons next month,” said Lancaster.
“We face a very big challenge against the Barbarians, who have a very experienced squad in terms of their average age and number of caps. But there’s a great deal of quality in the England system at the moment and a lot of these young players will get a chance to benchmark themselves against the best. We’ve seen that in the way the likes of Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes, Alex Corbisiero have taken their chances recently.
“A lot of the players have played in big games recently both in Europe and the Aviva Premiership. If we combine them with some of the more experienced players like Paul and Charlie Hodgson, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel, it should be an exciting combination.”
The Barbarians, who will include the likes of Mathieu Bastareaud and Frederic Michalak (France), Joe Van Niekerk (South Africa), Carl Hayman (New Zealand), Martyn Williams (Wales) and Sergio Parisse (Italy), are due to announce their squad later today.
England, who train at Bath for the early part of this week, are due to name their starting line-up on Wednesday.
Two-for-one tickets for the England v Barbarians clash on May 29 are available for £25, with under 16s tickets only £10. Get yours from RFU.com/tickets or by calling 0844 8472 492.
England Squad v Barbarians
Forwards
Dave Attwood (Gloucester Rugby)
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)
Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
Carl Fearns (Sale Sharks)
James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
Joe Gray (Harlequins)
Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Matthew Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
David Paice (London Irish)
Backs
Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Rory Clegg (Harlequins)
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby)
Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)