England head coach Eddie Jones has made three changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Six Nations Test against Ireland at Twickenham
Joe Marchant replaces Elliot Daly at outside centre, while Sam Simmonds (number eight) and Jamie George (hooker) replace Alex Dombrandt and Luke Cowan-Dickie in the run-on side.
At blindside flanker, Courtney Lawes will continue to captain the team. Vice-captain Tom Curry, who has passed his return to play protocols, will play openside flanker alongside Lawes and Simmonds in the back row.
The front row is made up of Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, and George. Maro Itoje and Charlie Ewels round out the close five.
Jones said: “We’ve been looking at this game as a semi-final. Ireland are the most cohesive side in the world right now and it will be a good test this weekend.
“We’ve prepared really well for this game. We did some good team togetherness work in Bristol and had a solid week of training on the pitch here.
“We are looking forward to going after them in front of a great home crowd at Twickenham. It’s been special having 82,000 supporters back in for our Six Nations games and it will be a great Test match for them.”
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Max Malins, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Elliot Daly
Date: Saturday, March 12
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
