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Fin Baxter promoted as England chase history at Eden Park
By PA
Fin Baxter will make his first start for England in the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Harlequins prop, who won his first cap off the bench in the 16-15 first Test defeat in Dunedin, again replaces his clubmate Joe Marler who has been ruled out with a foot injury.
Bevan Rodd comes onto the bench in the only other change to the squad for Auckland.
By contrast, fellow prop Dan Cole will win his 115th cap from the bench at Eden Park to become England’s second most-capped men’s player behind Ben Youngs (127).
England coach Steve Borthwick paid tribute to Cole, who will move ahead of Jason Leonard.
“Dan has shown nothing but dedication and determination throughout his career, and reaching this milestone is a remarkable feat,” he said.
“He is a superb rugby player, a wonderful role model and we all look forward to sharing a memorable day with him on Saturday.
“Eden Park is a stadium packed with history and with memories of great rugby encounters.
“New Zealand has a formidable record at this venue, but with that comes the pressure of expectation. It will be interesting to see how New Zealand manages that expectation in front of a full house.”
Scrum-half Finlay Christie is the only new face in the New Zealand starting line-up, replacing the injured TJ Perenara, with the uncapped Cortez Ratima taking his place on the bench.
England side to face New Zealand in game 2
15. George Furbank
13. Henry Slade - vice-captain
12. Ollie Lawrence
11. Tommy Freeman
10. Marcus Smith
1. Fin Baxter
2. Jamie George - captain
3. Will Stuart
4. Maro Itoje - vice-captain
8. Ben Earl - vice-captain
Replacements
16. Theo Dan
17. Bevan Rodd
18. Dan Cole
19. Alex Coles
20. Tom Curry
21. Ben Spencer
22. Fin Smith
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Latest Comments
Well done, somebody else has figured out Donaldson is completely hopeless. But he's from Randwick so gets a free ride in the Wallabies. If Schmidt is such an amazing coach, how come he is selecting Donaldson ? He is either an incompetent fool or he is just stroking his Tah master's ego. Same for Gordon.
Go to commentsNope. The Boks vs AB's rivalry is over 100 years old. Ireland's rivalry is a baby compared to it. This rivalry barely started. Give it another 90 years, with the Irish continuesly a big threat. Until then, the Irish is just coat tail riders trying to make money from a non existent rivalry.
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