England coach Eddie Jones defends his decision to call-up foreign-born players for Argentina tour

Jones has insisted that he is only playing by the rules that are imposed on him

Jones has called up a number of overseas based players (Getty)

Eddie Jones has defended his decision to call-up a number of foreign-born players to his England training squad ahead of the summer tour of Argentina by insisting he is only playing by the rules that are imposed on him from the game’s law-makers.

Having already called up the New Zealand-born rugby league convert Denny Solomona for the two-Test tour against the Pumas, Jones added Gloucester scrum-half Willi Heinz and Bristol back Jason Woodward to his 26-man training squad that convened in Brighton on Tuesday for a three-day camp.

The inclusions, which have come due to the 15 England players that are with the British and Irish Lions plus those unavailable due to their involvement in the Premiership semi-finals and the European Champions Cup play-offs.

“It's not my job to worry about how they qualify, it's my job to pick players that qualify,” Jones said on Tuesday.

“I don't care how they qualify, I'll pick them. That's the rules we play under. I obey them like a good schoolteacher does.”

Heinz’s call-up drew particular scrutiny given that the 30-year-old, who had never made public any desire to play for England, has actually played against them during the last tour of New Zealand while playing for Super Rugby side the Crusaders.

Rugby league convert Solomona has been named in the squad (Getty)

“He's got a good feel for the game, but you've got to remember we're bringing him in for this training camp only,” Jones added, confirming that he will not look to change his South American-touring party unless they pick up any injuries along the way.

“And I wouldn't be making a big song and dance about it. He's come into Gloucester, he's adapting to the English style of play. He's got a good feel for the game and he makes good decisions."

England play Argentina in early June (Getty)

Jones also got to work with Sale Sharks wing Solomona for the first time since he crossed codes from rugby league and set the Premiership alight with his 11 tries in 15 matches. Solomona has been a controversial selection, not least because he stated last year that he holds no passion to play for England, but also because of an ongoing legal battle between himself and Super League side, the Castleford Tigers, over the way he resigned from the team last year.

The England head coach was happy with what he saw, although was conservative with his views given that he had only one training session from which to base his views.

“He had a good one-on-one challenge with Jonny [May] today, he won some, lost some,” Jones said.

“It's good, he's coming on nicely.”