Hape given surprise England call-up

Alex Lowe,Pa
Wednesday 13 January 2010 09:05 EST
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Former New Zealand rugby league international Shontayne Hape has been named in the England squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Hape, 28, is joined in the 32-man squad by Northampton winger Chris Ashton, another league convert, and his Saints team-mates Courtney Lawes and Ben Foden.

There is no place in the senior squad for Danny Cipriani or Shane Geraghty, who have to be content with places in the second-string England Saxons.

Delon Armitage, Riki Flutey, Toby Flood and Nick Easter are all back in the fold after missing England's disappointing autumn international campaign through injury.

The inclusion of the two rugby league converts is designed to sharpen England's attacking options.

England scored just one try in three autumn Tests, in a laboured victory over Argentina, and they barely stretched the Australian and New Zealand defences.

Hape, who won 14 caps for the Kiwis, has been on England's radar since moving to Bath from Super League club Bradford Bulls in 2008.

He joins Dylan Hartley and Flutey as the third New Zealand-born player in the England squad.

Hape qualified for England on residency grounds and has been promoted ahead of Geraghty and Ayoola Erinle, who both featured in the autumn, to replace Gloucester's injured Mike Tindall.

If Hape features during the Six Nations, he will become the third former New Zealand rugby league international to play for England after Henry Paul and Lesley Vainikolo.

Ashton, 22, is the country's leading try-scorer with nine in 10 Guinness Premiership matches for Northampton and a total of 67 in 62 games since moving to Franklin's Gardens from Wigan in 2007.

Foden, who signed a new contract with Northampton today, and Ashton have formed a devastating partnership in the Saints back three this season.

Lawes made his England debut off the bench against Australia in November as a lock and he has continued to impress for the Saints after being moved to blindside flanker.

Harry Ellis has been retained as one of three scrum-halves despite concerns over his knee injury, while England have decided to delay a final decision on props Julian White and Andrew Sheridan until January 25.

Johnson has made a total of seven changes to the original squad named in July with Steve Thompson, Lewis Moody and James Haskell also being confirmed in the senior party.

England's revised 32-man senior elite player squad for RBS 6 Nations Championship:

FORWARDS: S Armitage (London Irish), S Borthwick (Saracens), J Crane (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Stade Francais), C Lawes (Northampton), L Mears (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), T Payne (Wasps), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), S Thompson (CA Brive), J White (Leicester), D Wilson (Bath).

BACKS: D Armitage (London Irish), C Ashton (Northampton), M Banahan (Bath), D Care (Harlequins), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester), B Foden (Northampton), R Flutey (CA Brive), S Hape (Bath), D Hipkiss (Leicester), P Hodgson (London Irish), U Monye (Harlequins), M Tait (Sale Sharks), J Wilkinson (Toulon).

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