England change 11 starters and include non-RWC pick on their bench
Steve Borthwick has made 11 changes to his England XV for this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series rematch with Wales in London, granting Ben Earl his first-ever Test start after 15 caps off the bench and including Elliot Daly, Joe Marler, Courtney Lawes and Billy Vunipola for their first international starts since the head coach took over from Eddie Jones last winter.
England were beaten 9-20 last weekend by the Welsh, failing to build on a 9-6 interval lead. They then confirmed on Monday their official squad of 33 for the Rugby World Cup but one of the 10 players who didn’t make the cut – Jonny Hill – is named on the bench for this Saturday’s Twickenham match.
Hill and fellow RWC omissions Jonny May and Guy Porter were back training with England on Tuesday despite not being included in the squad that will go to France, and the second row Hill will now provide Summer Nations Series bench cover this weekend as David Ribbans is unavailable due to his HIA last weekend in Wales.
The four repeat starters for this second warm-up outing are full-back Freddie Steward, outside centre Joe Marchant, tighthead Will Stuart and second row George Martin. Steward now has Henry Arundell and Elliot Daly as his supporting wingers, Ollie Lawrence will partner Marchant in the midfield while World Cup skipper Owen Farrell is paired with Jack van Poortvliet at half-back.
Marler and Jamie George join Stuart in the front row, Maro Itoje will partner Martin at lock, while the revamped back row consists of Lawes, Earl and Vunipola.
Dan Cole, Jack Willis, Ben Youngs are the new names on the bench this weekend, with Ellis Genge – who will win his 5oth cap if he plays – and Malins dropping down from last weekend’s XV. Theo Dan, Hill and George Ford are the three repeat bench picks.
Regarding the bench selection of Hill, who missed out on World Cup selection, Borthwick explained: “Jonny has trained with us throughout the week and I am pleased to be able to name him in the match day 23. I have no doubt he will provide a big impact for us off the bench.”
England (vs Wales, Saturday – 5:30pm)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)
14. Henry Arundell (Racing 92, 7 caps)
13. Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 16 caps)
12. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)
11. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 57 caps)
10. Owen Farrell © (Saracens, 106 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 79 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 77 caps)
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 67 caps)
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)
6. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 97 caps)
7. Ben Earl (Saracens, 15 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 68 caps)
Replacements:
16. Theo Dan (Saracens, 1 cap)
17. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 49 caps)
18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps)
19. Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 20 caps)
20. Jack Willis (Toulouse, 10 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 122 caps)
22. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 82 caps)
23. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 19 caps)
Latest Comments
Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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