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Te'o handed first England start, bench role for Vunipola
By Peter Thompson
Ben Te'o will make his first England start and Mako Vunipola has been named among the replacements for the Six Nations clash with Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.
Eddie Jones has made four changes to the side which started the dramatic victory over Wales in Cardiff, with centre Te'o coming in after Jonathan Joseph was left out of the squad.
Scrum-half Danny Care, flanker James Haskell and wing Jonny May are also promoted from the bench in place of Ben Youngs, Jack Clifford and Jack Nowell.
Youngs, Clifford and Nowell are joined among the replacements by prop Vunipola, who made his comeback from a knee injury for Saracens last week.
England head coach Jones said: "We have had a good two-week preparation for Italy and we're ready to go,
"We trained very well in the city last week and this week the training has been very impressive. The boys are really on song, we have had great competition for places, and we've picked a very strong 23 to play against Italy."
BREAKING | Your England team to face Italy in the RBS 6 Nations on Sunday
Full preview: https://t.co/tcbI93zutm#ENGvITA #CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/X6DBSJpZXr
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 24, 2017
England: Mike Brown, Jonny May, Ben Te'o, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, George Ford, Danny Care; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje, James Haskell, Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Tom Wood, Jack Clifford, Ben Youngs, Henry Slade, Jack Nowell.
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Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
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