England have been bolstered by a fit-again Elliot Daly as they begin their preparations for a November-defining clash with New Zealand.
Daly has not played since breaking his arm playing for the British and Irish Lions against the Reds in Brisbane on 2 July.
The versatile back has been in England camp over the last few weeks progressing through the final stages of rehabilitation, and has now been named in a 37-player group to assemble at their Bagshot training base ahead of the All Blacks match next Saturday.
The experienced 33-year-old could contend for an immediate return to the starting side, perhaps at full-back, where Freddie Steward and Marcus Smith have started the wins over Australia and Fiji respectively.
Wing Tom Roebuck, who was ruled out of the Fiji game with an ankle injury, has also been named in Steve Borthwick’s squad, with England hopeful he may be fit to feature at Twickenham.
England enter an encounter that will serve as a chance to prove their progress on the back of a run of nine consecutive victories.
They have not beaten the All Blacks on home soil since 2012, and lost 24-22 to Scott Robertson’s side last November.
“We're excited by it, we want to challenge ourselves against the best teams and they are one of those best teams,” Borthwick said after the win over Fiji. “We're a young side, we're developing, I think we're growing quickly and we're keen to learn. So I'm sure next week's going to be a great assessment for us.”
The last time England beat New Zealand came in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup as they produced one of their finest ever performances. Hooker Jamie George was part of that team and believes that the current crop will have to take it to the All Blacks in a similar way.
“What a lot of teams do is sit back in awe of the All Blacks with their history and all their incredible players,” George explained. “It’s easy to do that. I’ve probably done it in the past.
“Last year was a big one for us in terms of probably playing within ourselves when games got tight. Going out there and expressing ourselves and attacking the game is something we’ve done really well in the past couple of weeks when games have been really tight.
“We’ve also got to be aware we’ll be here at Allianz Stadium. We’re very proud to be playing here. We are going to do everything we can to win that game.”
