Borthwick named England captain by Johnson
Bath second row Steve Borthwick has been named England captain by new manager Martin Johnson. The 28-year-old will skipper the 32-man squad, named by the World Cup winner on Tuesday morning, on their tour to New Zealand, which begins in June.
Borthwick, who has international 35 caps to his name, was stand-in captain in the Six Nations victory over Italy, and he impressed. He took over the reins from injured prop Phil Vickery, who will also miss the tour after sustaining ligament damage four weeks ago.
Borthwick moves to Saracens from Bath in the close season, and takes charge of a squad that has thown up a few interesting selections.
Johnson, who took over Brian Ashton's role last month, after the conclusion of the Six Nations - a tournament in which England came second to Wales - will not trip to New Zealand (his wife is expecting).
But the former Leicester lock has named many young players, and cannot call upon the services of injured players Johnny Wilkinson, Lewis Moody or Vickery.
The 32-man senior squad includes six uncapped players.
Topsy Ojo (wing), Danny Care (scrum-half), Jason Hobson (prop), Dylan Hartley, David Paice (both hookers) and Nick Kennedy (lock) are the new faces.
Gloucester backs Iain Balshaw and Lesley Vainikolo as well as Wasps second row Simon Shaw, who all featured for England during this year's Six Nations, have been left out.
The squad in full is as follows:
Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani (Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), P Richards (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins).
Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne (Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol), L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway (Gloucester).
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