Yahoo News England watch: The players who stated their case to be in Eddie Jones' squad on Monday
Eddie Jones will name his England squad for the upcoming autumn internationals against Tonga, Australia and South Africa on Monday.
Our reporters kept a close eye on Saturday's Premiership matches to see who made a late claim to being included. Here's what they saw:
Ford focus at Worcester Warriors 3 Leicester Tigers 48
It is not Steve Borthwick’s style to demand that his players are picked by England, not least because he knows Eddie Jones better than most.
Still, the Leicester Tigers head coach was as expressive as he gets in his endorsement of George Ford following a seven-try, 48-3 thrashing of Worcester Warriors at Sixways.
“Just about everything good today was centred around him pulling the strings,” said Borthwick.
“It’s not my selection call to make,” he added of Ford’s potential inclusion in the England squad squad for autumn Tests against Tonga, Australia and South Africa.
“What I do see is someone who is playing good rugby and looking sharp. Really sharp.”
Omitted from a 45-man England training group last month, Ford conducted a comprehensive Tigers victory on Saturday that extended their lead at the top of the league table to seven points. Five straight wins constitutes their best-ever start to a Premiership campaign.
Among many classy moments were a deft pass to send over Matias Moroni and a delicate cross-kick that allowed Nemani Nadolo to set up Richard Wigglesworth for Leicester’s bonus-point try. Ford cannot have done much more to earn a Test recall.
Elsewhere, full-back Freddie Steward impressed and would appear to be in a strong position to build on his promising starts against USA and Canada at Twickenham three months ago. Complementing customary excellence under the high ball, his running threat constantly troubled Worcester.
Neither Ben Youngs nor George Martin appeared in Borthwick’s match-day squad but Ellis Genge, who started at loosehead prop, and Joe Heyes, a replacement on the other side of the front row, both scrummaged powerfully and contributed to the visitors’ dominant forward display.
Genge seems certain to feature for England in November and Heyes, blooded against USA and Canada like Steward, must be in contention to back up Kyle Sinckler.
On an afternoon to forget for understrength Worcester, which their captain Scott Baldwin labelled “embarrassing”, prospective England centre Ollie Lawrence found space hard to come by.
Charlie Morgan
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Injury fears, but Sam Simmonds impresses in Wasps 23 Exeter 27
Exeter and England will be hoping that Luke Cowan-Dickie's ankle injury is not as serious as it first looked when the hooker limped off after 52 minutes against Wasps.
Richard Cockerill, the recently-hired England assistant coach, was in attendance and would have been happier seeing Jonny Hill diving over in the corner and Sam Simmonds carrying hard off the base of a scrum to score himself.
Simmonds' stock rose last season given his British and Lions call-up and breaking the Premiership's single-season try-scoring record. But it's been three-and-a-half years since Simmonds last pulled on an England shirt, in the defeat to Ireland in the Six Nations, making how England use him - or if they use him at all - intriguing.
Saturday was far from his best game for Exeter and he was still named player of the match by BT Sport. He must have more of those medals at home than cutlery.
“His pace is as good as anything in the Premiership," said Exeter head coach Ali Hepher. "He created space, and his fight and momentum was there to be seen. All he can do is keep turning up and performances like that won’t go unnoticed and are international class, he has got to make sure he keeps performing and I am sure those England coaches will be watching but he is certainly up there with the very best."
Slade deserves recognition too for his recent performances, scoring his third try in third matches against Wasps, a score created in part by a player England have never truly appreciated (Dave Ewers) and another they have only capped once (Jack Maunder).
For all the talk of how England fit Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi into their midfield, Slade's form certainly hasn't waned enough to make leaving him out an obvious decision.
Ben Coles
Callum one to Chick out for Jones at Newcastle 13 Bristol 5
Points are in scarce supply at Kingston Park this season, but for the second successive home game Callum Chick displayed his finishing prowess to underline his England potential.
After the 24-year-old's dramatic late try to seal victory over Wasps at the start of the month, the flanker gave Eddie Jones another timely nudge ahead of the England head coach finalising his squad for the autumn internationals.
Crashing over from close range at the end of a bruising first-half with a determined pick and go next to the posts oozing international quality, Chick registered the Falcons' only try in a tight though fully merited victory against a Bristol side who've gone backwards in the opening six weeks of the campaign.
"Chicky's doing really well and I'd like to see him playing a part in certainly one if not more of the autumn internationals," Dean Richards, the Newcastle director of rugby, reflected after a third win in five, the last two victories at home secured with a combined tally of just 31 points.
Chick earned his first caps over the summer after being named in a 34-man training camp along with Falcons team-mates Adam Radwan, Trevor Davison and Jamie Blamire. The quartet all enhanced their growing reputations against the beleaguered Bears to leave Richards confident his largely homegrown squad could be well represented when England host Tonga, Australia and South Africa next month.
He added: "I thought Jamie Blamire did well, coming off the bench to produce a couple of steals which made a big difference on his 50th appearance for the club. Eddie's been up to speak to us about Chicky, and to be honest he's pleased with all our boys. We had four in the training squad, so fingers crossed we'll get some of them playing international rugby again soon."
Jason Mellor
