England retain Jack Clifford as Tom Wood fails to train ahead of Six Nations clash with Wales

Clifford replaces Teimana Harrison in the pack with Wood suffering from a shoulder injury, but Slade looks set to be the unlucky man to miss out on the matchday squad

Jack Clifford looks poised to start England's Six Nations match against Wales this Saturday (Getty)

England have named a 24-man squad for their second Six Nations championship match against Wales this Saturday, with Jack Clifford and Henry Slade retained ahead of the trip to Cardiff after yet another injury concern emerged this week.

Head coach Eddie Jones keeps the same 23-man squad that beat France 19-16 last Saturday bar Northampton Saints flanker Teimana Harrison, who drops out of the squad at the expense of Harlequins No 8 Clifford.

Clifford could find himself thrown straight into the starting line-up to face Wales given Tom Wood has been unable to train this week after suffering a shoulder injury against the French, and with Jones unwilling to risk James Haskell due to playing less than 80 minutes of rugby over the course of the season, the Quins back-row may start at openside with Maro Itoje at blindside flanker and Nathan Hughes at No 8.

Hughes himself is struggling with a knock to his knee, but was able to take part in training and will be risked against Wales, given Rob Howley’s back-row will boast 147 caps between Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and the returning Taulupe Faletau, compared to England’s 20 if Clifford gets the nod.

With Joe Marler proving his fitness in the Twickenham victory, Jones has decided not to retain prop Ellis Genge this time around, with the loosehead sent back to Leicester Tigers for the weekend.

It means that one man will drop out of the squad before Jones selects his side for the grudge match at the Principality Stadium, with either Exeter Chiefs back Slade or match-winner Ben Te’o set to miss out, with Te’o highly unlikely to be the man omitted given his try against the French and subsequent admission from jones that he is pushing for a starting spot.

Jonny May also looks set to drop out of the squad, with England’s training session on Tuesday suggesting that Jack Nowell will return seven months after his last start for England.

Meanwhile, Jones continued his habit of inviting guests to training in a bid to help develop his squad as England football manager Gareth Southgate oversaw training on Tuesday, alongside Australia netball coach Lisa Alexander after her side defeated England on Monday night.

Tom Wood left Twickenham with his arm in a sling (Getty)

"We've had a brilliant learning day today with Gareth and Lisa," said Jones.

"As we've always stated our aim is to get better every day and we want to get people into camp who have knowledge and great experience to learn from them.

Gareth Southgate observes training alongside the RFU's John Fletcher (Getty)

"The staff shared a very interactive hour with them at a lunchtime meeting where we learnt a lot, reinforced some principles and also discovered some new things that we need to do to keep moving forward."

Southgate addressed the squad while they took a break from training at the team’s Pennyhill Park base in Surrey, while he also watched both the morning and afternoon sessions as well as trade secrets with Jones’s coaching set-up.

England 24-man squad:

Forwards (13)

Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)

Jamie George (Saracens)

Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)

James Haskell (Wasps)

Nathan Hughes (Wasps)

Maro Itoje (Saracens)

Joe Launchbury (Wasps)

Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)

Joe Marler (Harlequins)

Matt Mullan (Wasps)

Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)

Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)

Backs (11)

Mike Brown (Harlequins)

Danny Care (Harlequins)

Elliot Daly (Wasps)

Owen Farrell (Saracens)

George Ford (Bath Rugby)

Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)

Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)

Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)

Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)

Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)