Cipriani has been included in the Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup after being overtaken in the England pecking order by Leicester's in-form fly-half Sam Vesty, who is among six uncapped players called up by manager Martin Johnson.

Newcastle prop David Wilson and Tom May, who has been playing at fly-half for the Falcons, are both included along with Harlequins pair Chris Robshaw and Jordan Turner-Hall plus Gloucester prop Nick Wood.

England play the Barbarians at Twickenham on May 30 before tackling the Pumas home and away, at Old Trafford on June 6 and in Salta a week later.

Thompson, 30, won the last of his 47 England caps off the bench in March 2006 before spending the best part of a year in retirement after suffering a neck injury.

He took a coaching role with Brive but in 2007 he sought further medical advice, in both France and the United States, and was given the all-clear to pull on his boots again.

England's 34-man squad will be captained by Steve Borthwick and also includes recalls for Lewis Moody after an injury-plagued season and Ben Kay, who won his last cap on the 2008 summer tour to New Zealand.

England are providing eight players to the Lions while Johnson was unable to consider Paul Sackey, Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Tom Palmer due to injury.

Johnson said: "This is a very strong squad full of a mixture of experience and young talent. I'm sure that any of the uncapped players will take the step up from the Saxons to the senior test arena if they are given the opportunity.

"I'm looking forward to all the games and the three-day training camp this week, which will give us further invaluable time with the squad."

England squad to play the Barbarians and two Tests against Argentina:

Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), G Chuter (Leicester), J Crane (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), L Moody (Leicester), T Payne (Wasps), T Rees (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), S Thompson (CA Brive), J White (Leicester), D Wilson (Newcastle), N Wood (Gloucester).

Backs: D Armitage (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), B Foden (Northampton), A Goode (CA Brive), J Turner-Hall (Harlequins), D Hipkiss (Leicester), P Hodgson (London Irish), T May (Newcastle), O Morgan (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), D Strettle (Harlequins), M Tait (Sale Sharks), S Vesty (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks).