England fans can’t make sense of Sinckler omission

REACTION: Eddie Jones has named a new England training squad on Friday, which sees players from Gloucester and Northampton Saints enter the fray.

The squad sees Danny Cipriani’s much-anticipated return to the set-up, alongside teammates Val Rapava-Ruskin, Ollie Thorley and Willi Heinz. Also, Courtney Lawes and Piers Francis join from the Saints for the next week’s training camp.

One surprise in the squad is that regular tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler, and his teammate Marcus Smith, have been sent back to their club Harlequins for the week.

This is what Jones said about the decision: "We feel it is in their best interests in terms of the World Cup to do that, and we will consider their participation in the squad further down the track."

That is typically cryptic from the Australian, and while many fans can understand why the 20-year-old Smith may have returned with fellow flyhalf Cipriani coming into the squad, Sinckler’s absence is slightly more surprising.

Smith is very unlikely to make the World Cup, but Sinckler is nothing short of a shoe-in given his form over the past year and England’s apparent dearth of props.

With last week’s training camp being largely fitness based, some are speculating that the Quins prop was not up to scratch. On the other hand, the 15-cap international prides himself on his fitness, and some have said that he may have earned himself a week’s break before a more intense camp starts.

Ultimately, no one can get to the bottom of this decision, and this has been the reaction on Twitter:

This probably does not mean much, as the three-cap British and Irish Lion has been looked upon favourably by Jones over the past two years. However, had Jones released a raft of players this decision would not have come as a surprise, but it is just anomalous nature of it which has left fans wondering.

By Josh Raisey