Key Players Overlooked by Martin Johnson for Six Nations

Olly Barkley, Matt Banahan, Dan Hipkiss, Topsy Ojo, Jordan Crane, Michael Lipman, and Stefon Armitage.

After reading that list, hopefully you'd expect all those players to be inclusions in Martin Johnson's squad.

If so, then you would be mistaken.

The new England manager has chose to leave out some "shoe-ins" for a Six Nations spot, and chose to go for consistency rather than form.

However, Ben Foden—who singlehandedly tore through the Tigers defence this weekend—gains his first call up, even if it was just for one outstanding performance. On this basis, the likes of Matt Banahan and Stefon Armitage, who have been some of the most consistent performers, should be in there.

Other inclusions include a re-call for Mark Cueto, Olly Morgan and Mike Tindall.

England Squad

Backs

D Armitage (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), D Cipriani (Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester), B Foden (Northampton), R Flutey (Wasps), S Geraghty (London Irish), U Monye (Harlequins), O Morgan (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), P Sackey (Wasps), M Tait (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester).

Forwards

S Borthwick (Saracens), G Chuter (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), N Kennedy (London Irish), L Mears (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester), T Palmer (Wasps), T Payne (Wasps), T Rees (Wasps), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Stevens (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps).