Six Nations 2019: Jonathan Joseph recalled to England squad ahead of opening Ireland clash

Bath centre returns to England’s training squad after returning from a nine-month injury last weekend

Jonathan Joseph has been added to England’s squad for their Six Nations opener against Ireland, having proven his fitness on his return from a serious ankle injury last weekend.

The 27-year-old missed both the summer tour of South Africa and the autumn internationals at the end of 2018 after undergoing surgery twice on a broken left foot, which he suffered against Saracens on 15 April last year.

But after coming through Sunday’s Heineken Cup defeat against Toulouse unscathed, the 40-cap centre has been added by Eddie Jones to the England squad that will fly to Portugal on Wednesday for a week-long training camp ahead of their Dublin curtain-raiser on Saturday 2 February.

The Bath centre joins a 35-man squad that was named by Jones last week, with both Joe Launchbury and Brad Shields included despite suffering knocks at the weekend.

Owen Farrell is also included even though the England captain underwent surgery on an injured thumb on Saturday morning to repair minor ligament damage, though the decision not to call up any fly-half cover suggests that the Saracens stand-off is winning his race to be fit for the fixture against the defending Six Nations champions.

Had Farrell been in danger of missing out, Jones was considering a recall for Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani, who has been exiled from the squad since starting the third Test victory over South Africa last June. However, with Farrell still likely to be fit to feature at the Aviva Stadium and both George Ford and Henry Slade able to cover No 10 – though the latter has never played there in Test rugby – Jones has decided against bringing in Cipriani or any other reinforcements.

England will spend little over a week in Vilamoura to prepare for the Six Nations, with the toughest match possible up first as they face Ireland – who are coincidentally already in Portugal undergoing their own training camp on the Algarve. Jones is due to announce his squad for the match next Thursday, before the team fly straight to Dublin for Saturday’s week-one encounter.