Owen Farrell will resume the captaincy of the 36-man England squad selected by Eddie Jones for the 2022 Six Nations championship.

Rookies Alfie Barbeary, Luke Northmore, Ollie Chessum, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Orlando Bailey have all been called up to the squad, which will convene for a training camp in Brighton next week.

According to an RFU media release, “Owen Farrell will captain England, while team vice-captains will be announced ahead of each match”.

The inclusion of Ben Youngs means he could potentially become England’s most-capped player during the tournament. The scrumhalf, who made his debut in 2010, is two caps behind Jason Leonard (114).  In other potential milestones, Kyle Sinckler is in line to earn his 50th Test cap.

Notably, there is still no room in the squad for George Ford, Sam Underhill, Billy and Mako Vunipola or Elliot Daly.

“Selecting this squad has been a difficult task, we’ve got plenty of good young players coming through and some of our more experienced are rediscovering their best form,” said Jones.

“We think this 36 for the first training week reflects a good balance of that experience and up-and-coming talent. In Brighton, we’ll focus on getting the fundamentals of our game in play right and developing the cohesion of the team.

“The Six Nations is going to be the most competitive we’ve ever seen. All the countries performed well in the autumn, so we need to be at our best and improve with every game.”

England Six Nations squad: 

Forwards – Alfie Barbeary, Jamie Blamire, Ollie Chessum, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Curry, Alex Dombrandt, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Joe Marler, Bevan Rodd, Sam Simmonds, Kyle Sinckler, Will Stuart.

Backs – Mark Atkinson, Orlando Bailey, Owen Farrell, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Max Malins, Joe Marchant, Jonny May, Luke Northmore, Jack Nowell, Raffi Quirke, Harry Randall, Henry Slade, Marcus Smith, Freddie Steward, Ben Youngs.