FORMER Winchester RFC and Hampshire player Joe Marchant has been called into England’s pre-season training squad.

The 22-year-old centre is one of 44 players named by Australian coach Eddie Jones, who has next year’s World Cup in the back of his mind.

Marchant will join fellow Hampshire man and Harlequins teammate Mike Brown as experienced players and new faces are put through their paces at London’s Lensbury Hotel over the next three days. Also getting a recall is winger Chris Ashton who has returned from playing in France with Toulon.

Marchant has been part of the senior England training squad twice before and has scored 59 points for England under-20s in 13 appearances.

Jones said: “This is a pre-season camp so a lot of our players, particularly the ones who went on the South African tour, have just started training with their clubs so it’s just a chance to get a group of players together to have a chat about the season ahead and look at the important areas in developing the team.”

He added: “With just over 12 months until the Rugby World Cup, it is an important time.”

England will play four Quilter international matches in November - against South Africa (3rd), New Zealand (10th), Japan (17th) and Australia (24th).