England head coach Eddie Jones has confirmed a total of four changes to his starting XV for this Sunday’s Six Nations game against Ireland in Twickenham Stadium at 15 00.
In the pack Joe Marler takes the place of Mako Vunipola, who misses the game through family reasons, while in the backs Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi and Jonathan Joseph come in.
The only surprise being that regular centre Joseph will start on the wing for his 50th international test.
Elsewhere it’s the same team that defeated Scotland last time out with Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler joining Marler in the front-row, with Maro Itoje and George Kruis behind them in the engine-room.
Courtney Lawes continues at blindside-flanker, with Sam Underhill on the openside and Tom Curry is once again selected at No 8 despite many fans and pundits calling for him to be shifted back to the flank.
Youngs links-up with George Ford in the half-backs, with captain Owen Farrell and Tuilagi outside them in the midfield pairing.
Joseph starts on the left-wing, with Jonny May on the right and Elliot Daly shifts to full-back to complete the starting line-up.
There is a six-two forwards to backs split on the bench with the likes of Luke Cowan-Dickie and Joe Launchbury among the replacements for the pack while Willi Heinz and the returning Henry Slade are cover for the backs.
Speaking ahead of the game Jones believes that his team are well prepared for the clash but knows how dangerous Ireland can be.
“We’ve had a really good training week with Thursday probably our best session of the Guinness Six Nations. Ireland are a very good team, extremely well-coached. They are a team we respect a lot. They will bring their usual physicality and under Andy Farrell they’ve opened up their game a little bit. They are a tactically smart team. Murray and Sexton, who have played 170 Tests between them, at nine and 10 will manage the game well. We’ve got to make sure we match their physicality and their emotion on the weekend. We trained at Twickenham Stadium in front of 10,000 fans last Friday and we can’t wait to get back out there in front of 80,000 people on Sunday,” he said.
England will head into the game looking to get their championship title tilt back on track, but come up against an Ireland team hoping to seal a Triple Crown and continue their march towards a Grand Slam in what is set to be a massive encounter against two fierce rivals.
Check Out the Full 23-Man Squad Below.
Starting XV:
15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 41 caps)
14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 54 caps)
13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 41 caps)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 81 caps) C
11 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 49 caps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 67 caps)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 97 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 69 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 47 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 33 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 36 caps)
5 George Kruis (Saracens, 43 caps)
6 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 83 caps)
7 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 17 caps)
8 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 21 caps)
Replacements:
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 22 caps)
17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
18 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 63 caps)
20 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 13 caps)
21 Ben Earl (Saracens, 1 cap)
22 Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, 11 caps)
23 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 27 caps)
