New England manager Martin Johnson has named Bath lock Steve Borthwick as captain for next month’s two-Test tour of New Zealand.

The 28-year-old will lead the side in the absence of regular skipper Phil Vickery, who has been deemed unfit to tour after tearing a knee ligament.

The 32-man senior squad includes six uncapped players.

Topsy Ojo, Danny Care, Jason Hobson, Dylan Hartley, David Paice and Nick Kennedy are the new faces.

Borthwick, who has 37 caps, had limited game time in the World Cup but was one of only two players to play in every minute of England’s Six Nations campaign this year.

He captained the side in the victory over Italy when Vickery was ill and Johnson said he was the “obvious” choice to lead England in New Zealand.

“Steve is very well respected among the squad, an established international player and a very good leader,” said Johnson. “He is a model player the way he approaches the game and was a natural choice to lead the squad.

“But lots of other guys have a leadership influence on the team. I think people always put too much emphasis on who is the captain.”

Vickery was expected to miss the rest of the domestic season after tearing a knee ligament in mid-April but his rehabilitation is reportedly progressing well and he could even come into contention for the Guinness Premiership final, if Wasps qualify, on 31 May.

“Phil is trying desperately hard to play again this season but we felt it wasn’t the right call to go on an arduous tour,” Johnson added.

Gloucester backs Iain Balshaw and Lesley Vainikolo, who both featured for England during this year’s Six Nations, have been left out.

“I spoke to Iain, he was disappointed not to go but he took it very well,” said Johnson. “We decided to take Mike Brown who we feel is ahead of him at the moment.

“We will be catching up with Lesley as a management and fitness team over the summer to try and improve him as a player.”

The selection of wing Ojo, second row Kennedy and hooker Paice caps a fine season for London Irish after they reached the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

“It was a very close call between Topsy Ojo and those who are on the Saxons tour,” said Johnson. “We felt he just edged it on performance, he’s a very exciting player.”

Wasps lock Simon Shaw has been left at home so he can recover from what Johnson calls “a number of medical issues”.

“We felt it was best if he had a good off season and got himself in the best shape for another long season next year.”

Hartley, 22, who was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, is in the senior squad for the first time despite spending all season in National League Division One helping Northampton win promotion to the Premiership.

The hooker was banned for six months last year for eye-gouging, which ruled him out of contention for a place in England’s World Cup squad.

Bristol prop Hobson, who was added to the extended England squad for the Six Nations match with Italy in February, was last year banned for three weeks after punching Vickery in a league game.

The incident meant that Vickery was forced to miss the final two matches of last year’s Six Nations.

Wasps wing Paul Sackey is named in the party despite hurting his knee against Leeds on Saturday, and is undergoing “intensive rehab” before undergoing a scan to determine any damage.

However, London Irish fly-half/centre Shane Geraghty does not make it as he requires surgery to fix an injured shoulder.

Newcastle centre Toby Flood, who is leaving the Falcons at the end of the season, will travel to New Zealand despite carrying an ankle injury. 
Hartley has impressed the selectors despite playing in Division One 

Johnson has also decided to recall Bath centre Olly Barkley, Harlequins wing David Strettle, London Irish scrum-half Peter Richards, Wasps lock Tom Palmer, Harlequins full-back Mike Brown and Wasps flanker Joe Worsley.

Barkley is back in the squad after missing the Six Nations because of an impending court case.

He was charged with assaulting a fellow guest at a wedding although the charge was subsequently dropped.

Worsley, who has been capped 65 times, missed the entire Six Nations but will battle it out for a starting position in a competitive back-row.

Brown is the only out-and-out full-back named in the party, although Johnson said that Mathew Tait would act as cover for that position.

One player who could feel unfortunate to miss out is Leicester wing Tom Varndell, who is instead in the England Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup.

Varndell has had an impressive campaign with the Tigers and scored a superb last-minute solo try on Saturday to put his side in the end-of-season play-offs.

“We felt that sending Tom to play with the Saxons would be better for him than picking him for New Zealand and not being involved,” said Johnson.

“He will be the first replacement wing for the senior squad if needed.”

Newcastle fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, Leicester flanker Lewis Moody and Tigers lock Louis Deacon were not available for selection because of injury.

Wilkinson is to undergo shoulder surgery shortly to repair a cartilage tear, while Moody is still recovering from the Achilles injury sustained in the opening match of the Six Nations.

Deacon is also unavailable with a back injury that has kept him out for the past month.
With Johnson staying at home to be with his pregnant wife Kay, Andrew will head up a tour management party including coaches John Wells (forwards), Mike Ford (defence), Graham Rowntree (scrummaging) and Jon Callard (kicking).

No specialist backs coach has yet been appointed - “you want these things to happen quickly but sometimes they take time,” said Johnson - and Andrew is working on the assumption “that we won’t have an extra coach in New Zealand at the moment”.

England depart on Monday, 2 June, the day after they play the Barbarians at Twickenham.

They take on the All Blacks in Auckland on 14 June, with a second Test in Christchurch the following Saturday, 21 June.
Former coach Brian Ashton, who led England to the World Cup final, has yet to decide whether to take the role of National Academy boss, despite the RFU saying more than three weeks ago they were confident he would accept the offer.
“Brian still wants more time to make up his mind,” Andrew said.
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England squad
Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani (Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), P Richards (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins).
Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne (Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol), L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway (Gloucester).

Players not selected because of injury:
J Lewsey (Wasps), S Geraghty (London Irish), H Ellis (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), L Deacon (Leicester), P Vickery (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester).

England Saxons squad for Churchill Cup in USA and Canada:
Backs: N Abendanon (Bath), A Allen (Gloucester), M Banahan (Bath), L Dickson (Newcastle), B Foden (Sale Sharks), P Hodgson (London Irish), A Jarvis (Harlequins), R Lamb (Gloucester), U Monye (Harlequins), O Smith (Leicester), T Varndell (Leicester), D Waldouck (Wasps).
Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), R Blaze (Leicester), A Brown (Gloucester), G Chuter (Leicester), A Clarke (Bristol), J Crane (Leicester), J Forster (Gloucester), T Guest (Harlequins), C Jones (Sale Sharks), N Lloyd (Saracens), C Robshaw (Harlequins), W Skinner (Harlequins, capt), G Skivington (Wasps), A Titterrell (Gloucester), R Webber (Wasps), D Wilson (Newcastle).

Winger Joe Rokocoko looks certain to miss New Zealand’s home Tests against Ireland and England in June.

The 24-year-old will undergo surgery on a wrist injury sustained during the Auckland Blues’ Super 14 defeat to Western Force last month.

And the recovery will keep Rokocoko - who has scored 43 tries in 48 Tests for the All Blacks - out for three months.

“The long-term risks outweigh any option to keep on playing for the short term,” he said.

New Zealand play Ireland in a one-off match on 7 June before their two Tests against England on 14 June in Auckland and 21 June in Christchurch.

All Black coach Graham Henry announced on Monday that he had applied to continue as the New Zealand head coach, making him one of seven applicants for the job.

Henry’s All Blacks were knocked out of the World Cup in the quarter finals - their worst ever result - despite being favourites to win in 2007.In re-applying for the position Henry said that he believed that he could add further value to the team.“I’m passionate about coaching and this team,” he said.“Obviously the Rugby World Cup was a big disappointment and I am responsible, but I believe we can learn from that experience and develop into an even stronger All Blacks team in the future.

“I will wait until the coaching decision is made before making any further public comment,” he added.

Henry’s assistant coaches, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen, also indicated their interest in continuing as Henry’s assistants.

Both also issued brief statements.

“We’re all gutted by the World Cup result especially after the success the team had in the four years before that,” Smith said.

“Personally, it’s made me more determined to look for improvements and to find a new level of success if given the chance. I’ll wait and see what the NZRU Board decides and then look at my options for the future.”

Hansen was equally supportive of Henry, saying: “Graham has my full support.

“I believe that we three coaches have worked well together over the last four years. We have learned a lot, both from our 42 wins and our six losses. We would like the opportunity to use that knowledge to improve the team further.

“That of course will be up to the Board, so I’ll wait for the Board’s decision before confirming any other decisions about my future.”

NZRU Board Member and Rugby Committee Chairman Mike Eagle said the seven applicants who were eligible to apply for the job would now be considered by the NZRU Rugby Committee and a shortlist of final candidates decided.

“At this stage, we are not at liberty to announce the names of the candidates due to the provisions of the Privacy Act,” he said.

“But once a shortlist of candidates is finalised we intend to ask the applicants to agree to be named, given the strong public interest in both the role and the process.”

Although the list has not been made public, those who have already put up their hands include Henry, Robbie Dean (Crusaders), Ian Foster (Chiefs) and Colin Cooper (Hurricanes).

The amateurs of Newton Abbot’s second XV had the shock of their lives when they turned up for a game and discovered that the All Blacks’ Jerry Collins was playing for the opposition.

The 6ft 3in, 17-stone flanker - nicknamed ‘The Terminator’ for his ferocious tackling - turned out for rival Devon side Barnstaple against a stunned group of butchers, builders and bricklayers from Newton Abbot.

Collins, the hard man of the New Zealand back row and the proud owner of the biggest biceps in their squad, ran in a storming try and made three try-saving tackles during his 55 minutes on the pitch, helping Barnstaple to a 21-7 away victory in the Devon Merit Table fixture.

The Samoan-born Collins, 26, took part in the match after bumping into Barnstaple’s head coach, Kevin Squire, while on holiday in Devon.

Squire was enjoying a meal in a restaurant when he spotted the All Black. “I did a double-take when I saw who it was and knew I had to introduce myself,” he said.

“He was very polite and unassuming. We talked for several minutes and I mentioned the club and invited him to come down and watch a game, but of course never expected him to turn up. He did though and even coached a session with the under-14 side, who were completely awe-struck.

“I told him we had a match coming up and he was welcome to join us, but again I was gobsmacked when he showed up to catch the bus with the rest of the players.

“It was very surreal for the lads as they are all amateurs - most of them are builders, bricklayers, plumbers and so on. He had even been to a sports store to buy a pair of boots.”

Squire said his new recruit dropped down a gear to fit in with the standard of the game. “Jerry didn’t play up his superstar status but was really one of the lads,” he said.

“He didn’t crunch into them like he could have done – they would have gone flying. He adapted his level of play to suit the game like a proper gentleman.

“It was a wonderful experience for all the players to play alongside such a big name in international rugby, even for the guys in the other team.”

Newton Abbot coach Phil Burford said his side were “quite taken aback” when Barnstaple showed up with Collins in tow. “I think the second-team lads were pinching themselves after playing with such an icon,” he said.

“After the match he was inundated with fans asking for pictures and autographs and he was happy to do it. He was a true professional.”

Former All Black Pat Walsh, who played 13 Tests in four positions between 1955 and 1963, had died at the age of 71. 
 

He became the second-youngest player to represent New Zealand at the age of 19 years and 106 days when he made his debut against Australia.

Walsh played at inside centre in that match and went on to also feature at fly-half, full-back and on the wing.

He played at full-back and centre in the All Blacks’ seminal series victory at home to South Africa in 1956.

Walsh made his last tour with New Zealand to Britain with Wilson Whineray’s All Blacks in 1963 but a knee injury sustained on that tour eventually ended his playing career.

He served as an All Blacks selector from 1969 to 1971.