Bath's Henry Thomas and London Irish's Joe Cokanasiga have been drafted in as replacements for the two-day training camp in Brighton
Monday 1 January 2018 14:28, UK
Jonathan Joseph and Jack Nowell are among five players to have been ruled out of England's New Year's training camp through injuries sustained at the weekend.
Joseph (dead leg) played the entire match for Bath in their Aviva Premiership defeat to Wasps on Friday and Nowell (ankle) helped Exeter to a seventh consecutive Premiership victory with a bonus-point victory over Leicester on Sunday.
Charlie Ewels (hamstring), Piers Francis and Harry Williams (both concussion) are the three other players to drop out with Bath's Henry Thomas and London Irish's Joe Cokanasiga drafted in as replacements.
Joseph featured in England's autumn international victories over Argentina and Australia in November while Nowell has not played for Eddie Jones' side since Ireland ended their hopes of a second successive Grand Slam and stopped England's winning run to a record-equalling 18 Tests.
The two-day training camp in Brighton, finishing on Tuesday, is seen as an opportunity for Jones to begin his preparations for the Six Nations.
England, defending their title in the annual competition, are on a six-match unbeaten run under Jones and will face Italy on February 4 in Rome.
Manu Tuilagi was not named in the original 34-man squad while Courtney Lawes was ruled out for personal reasons as Jones handed first call-ups to Bath's Beno Obano and Newcastle's Gary Graham.
England are set to announce their Six Nations squad on January 18, before the squad travel for a week's training camp in Portugal on January 21.
