Captain Hartley Returns As One Of England’s Seven Changes
England head coach Eddie Jones has named his team to play Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday (kick-off 2.45pm), making seven personnel changes to the side that lost 22-16 to France in Paris.
Captain Dylan Hartley returns as starting hooker after recovering from a calf injury, with Harlequins tighthead Kyle Sinckler making his first start of the campaign in place of the benched Dan Cole.
George Kruis will partner his Saracens club-mate Maro Itoje in the second row, taking over from Joe Launchbury, while James Haskell and Sam Simmonds return as starters in the back row, coming in for the injured Courtney Lawes and Nathan Hughes. The rejigged loose forwards see Chris Robshaw shift to blindside flanker.
There are also positional switches in a back-line which is now marshalled by Owen Farrell, England’s captain in Paris, and Richard Wigglesworth at half-back. George Ford and Danny Care are the players to make way, with Jonathan Joseph recalled at outside centre and Ben Te’o swapping the number 13 jersey for 12.
Winger Elliot Daly has recovered from the foot injury he suffered during the fourth round defeat, while once-capped Exeter Chiefs back rower Don Armand is standing by to make his Six Nations debut from an otherwise experienced English bench.
Head coach Eddie Jones said: “We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and play there. We have had a couple of tough games on the road and to get back and play in front of our 24th man will be exciting for the players and they will be looking forward to putting in a good performance.
“Ireland are a very good team. We have seen in every game the physical contest has been quite enormous so we have to meet that physical challenge and then play smart tactically.”
ENGLAND Team & Replacements (v Ireland, 2018 NatWest 6 Nations Championship, Twickenham, Saturday, March 17, kick-off 2.45pm):
Player/Club/Caps –
15. Anthony Watson (Bath), 32
14. Jonny May (Leicester Tigers) 33
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath) 39
12. Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) 12
11. Elliot Daly (Wasps) 17
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens) 57
9. Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens) 30
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens) 48
2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) (capt) 92
3. Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins) 9
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens) 18
5. George Kruis (Saracens) 24
6. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) 63
7. James Haskell (Wasps) 76
8. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs) 6
Replacements:
16. Jamie George (Saracens) 24
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins) 55
18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) 81
19. Joe Launchbury (Wasps) 51
20. Don Armand (Exeter Chiefs) 1
21. Danny Care (Harlequins) 80
22. George Ford (Leicester Tigers) 44
23. Mike Brown (Harlequins) 68