Eight uncapped players have been named in England’s squad for their Six Nations opener against Italy on 3 February.

Harlequins prop Lewis Boyce has been called up for the first time following the suspension of Joe Marler, while Nathan Earle, Marcus Smith, Harry Mallinder, Gary Graham, Zach Mercer, Tom Dunn and Alec Herpburn are the other newcomers.

‘I have selected the strongest available squad to prepare for our opening match against Italy,’ coach Eddie Jones said.

‘It is important we start the tournament well and we will spend the next two weeks training smart and really fine-tuning our game plan for the Italy match next month.’

England squad – Mike Brown, Danny Care, Nathan Earle, Owen Farrell, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Alex Lozowski, Harry Mallinder, Jonny May, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Marcus Smith, Denny Solomona, Ben Te’o, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs, Lewis Boyce, Dan Cole, Tom Dunn, Jamie George, Gary Graham, Dylan Hartley, Alec Hepburn, Nick Isiekwe, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Courtney Lawes, Joe Launchbury, Zach Mercer, Chris Robshaw, Sam Simmonds, Kyle Sinckler, Sam Underhill, Mako Vunipola, Harry Williams.

Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images