England men’s head coach Eddie Jones has named his team to face France in their second Guinness Six Nations match on Sunday 10 February at Twickenham Stadium (KO
Jones has made two changes to the starting XV that beat Ireland last weekend with Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) selected in the second row following the injury to Maro Itoje (Saracens) in Dublin.
Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks) is named on the right wing in place of Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) who will be among the finishers on Sunday. It will be Ashton’s first start in the Six Nations since 2013.
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Joe Launchbury (Wasps) and Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs) are included as finishers for the first time this tournament.
“After the Ireland game we have had to refocus and reset. Players have been very good and certainly by Sunday we’ll be at our best,” said Jones.
“The French are always an interesting side to play against. They are full of talent, they have a lot of unpredictability so it’s hard to prepare tactically against them so we have had a real focus on ourselves.”
England have won nine of the last 12 Six Nations games against France with the Les Bleus only having managed one win at Twickenham in the Six Nations era back in 2005.
England starting XV (555 caps)
15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 26 caps), 14 Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks, 43 caps), 13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps), 12 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 28 caps), 11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 41 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 66 caps) (c), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 81 caps), 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps), 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 33 caps), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 18 caps), 4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 69 caps), 5 George Kruis (Saracens, 28 caps), 6 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 9 caps), 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 6 caps), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 37 caps).
Finishers (249 caps)
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps), 17 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps), 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 82 caps), 19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 54 caps), 20 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 19 caps), 21 Dan Robson (Wasps, uncapped), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 52 caps), 23 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps).
France also named their team with several changes made.
