Rugby grounds.

England head coach Eddie Jones has stated his decision to drop Danny Cipriani is purely on rugby grounds, and not as a result of his pre-season arrest for an altercation in Jersey while on tour with club Gloucester.

Jones named a 36-man training squad for a camp in Bristol this morning, with Cipriani the high-profile exclusion. Chris Ashton has been named despite the fact that he is serving a ban, as is Manu Tuilagi who has finally returned to full fitness.

Jones says he only wanted two tens in his squad (George Ford and Owen Farrell), because he wants them to get as much “training time” as possible. He noted Cipriani is the 3rd or 4th choice outhalf for England at the moment and that he knows what he has to “work on.”

“We just wanted two stand-offs in the squad because we want them to get a lot of training time.” Jones said.

“Danny is probably 3rd or 4th choice right now.”

“He some things to work on and he knows what they are.”

England training squad

Forwards: (20) Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby), Michael Rhodes (Saracens), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Nick Schonert (Worcester Warriors), Brad Shields (Wasps), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons).

Backs: (16) Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Nathan Earle (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Dan Robson (Wasps), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).