Manu Tuilagi included in England squad for Australia series despite injury concern

Leicester Tigers centre Manu Tuilagi has been included in the 32-man England squad for the three-Test tour of Australia in June. The 25-year-old Tuilagi, who has a long history with injuries, went off with a pulled hamstring during Saracens' Premiership semi-final loss to Saracens' whose fly-half Owen Farrell was also replaced with a rib problem.

But the pair have been named in Eddie Jones' travelling party which includes four uncapped players. Worcester centre Ben Te'o, Northampton Saints' Teimana Harrison, Leicester Tigers prop Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler or Harlequins are in line for their first international appearances being called up.

The notable omissions include winger Chris Ashton who has stared for European Champions Cup winners Saracens this season, forward Kieran Brookes, fly-half Danny Cipriani, winger Semesa Rokoduguni and prop Joe Marler who is taking a break from the game. Henry Slade is called up for the first time by Jones after being unavailable for the Six Nations triumph with a broken leg.

Jones will be without 10 of his squad for the pre-tour warm-up match against Wales at Twickenham on 28 May due to their participation in the Premiership final, while Danny Care is also rested. Dave Attwood, Matt Kvesic, Tommy Taylor, Luther Burrell and Ollie Devoto have been called up for the match with Warren Gatland's men but there is no prospect of the quintet being involved Down Under.

"We have selected two squads of players who can win all four games," said Jones. "It's important we get off to a good start against Wales and play positive rugby and win.

"To beat the Wallabies in Australia you have to play a physical, aggressive brand of rugby and that's what we intend to do. We will need to be a fit, cohesive, tactically flexible team and play with a high intensity. We have to be in their faces from the first minute of the first Test."

"We are still a young squad with an average age of 24, so this will be a big learning experience. This will be the first time many of the players will have toured Australia so there's no historical baggage there and mentally we'll be in a good place off the back of the RBS 6 Nations.

"The Grand Slam was just the start of our journey. We're ranked fourth in the world and are still developing our identity and we have a long way to go to get to where we ultimately want to be. This tour will provide a good chance for us to measure up to the southern hemisphere and try to close that gap.

"Australia are the second-ranked team in the world and their coach is the World Rugby coach of the year, so their supporters will expect a positive result from them. We will upset the apple cart."

England take on Australia in a three-match series for the first time for a century this summer. The pair face off on 11 June in Brisbane, 18 June at Melbourne before a potential Cook Cup decider in Sydney on 25 June.