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England change 12 for Chile; Marcus Smith given a brand new role
Steve Borthwick has made a dozen changes to his England Rugby World Cup team to face Chile on Saturday in Lille, recalling the now suspension-free Owen Farrell and handing Marcus Smith the No15 shirt for the first time in his Test career.
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Having followed up the 27-10 opening round win over Argentina in Marseille with last Sunday’s 34-12 success versus Japan in Nice, the head coach has decided to explore his squad’s depth against the South American minnows as only Elliot Daly, Kyle Sinckler and Lewis Ludlam are starters retained from last weekend.
Borthwick came into match week three with seven of his 33-strong squad having not yet been selected to play at the tournament and all seven will now make their France 2023 debuts.
Backline trio Henry Arundell, Max Malins and Farrell are all named to start and of the four unused forwards so far, Bevan Rodd, David Ribbans and Jack Willis are included in the starting pack with Jack Walker backing up Theo Dan from the bench.
Even Daly, the sole backline player retained for this weekend, has been handed a very different role as he will line out at outside centre in a midfield partnership with Ollie Lawrence, who starts with week. Joe Marchant slipps to the bench and Manu Tuilagi is rested.
Smith, who came on for the closing 11 minutes at full-back versus Japanese for the dead leg Freddie Steward, will now get a maiden start in that position with Arundell taking over from Jonny May on the right wing and Malins named on the left and Daly moving inside.
At half-back, Farrell returns to skipper the team in his first outing since his August 12 red card versus Wales earned him a four-game ban. He is joined at half-back by Danny Care, with George Ford and Ben Youngs providing the bench cover.
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In the forwards, Rodd and Dan join Sinckler in the front row in place of the benched Joe Marler and the rested Jamie George. Will Stuart is again the reserve tighthead.
At lock, Ribbans and George Martin will form a new partnership, with Ollie Chessum in reserve this week and Maro Itoje rested.
As for the back row, recent skipper Courtney Lawes is rested and Ben Earl switches to the bench to accommodate a start at No8 for last Sunday’s sub Billy Vunipola and for Willis at openside. Ludlam, the No8 in Nice, switches to blindside.
Borthwick said: “One of the many great things about the Rugby World Cup is that the tournament provides an excellent opportunity to play against teams that we rarely have a chance to see.
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“It is for that reason that we are particularly looking forward to testing ourselves against Chile on Saturday. Having watched our next opponent closely, we know that we must prepare and play well against a committed Chile team.
“As we head to the next round, it is only right that I once again pay tribute to our excellent supporters who I know will be right behind us in Lille this weekend.”
After last Sunday’s headed assist from Joe Marler for the Courtney Lawes try versus Japan, England stepped up heading practice at Tuesday training in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage #RWC2023 #EnglandRugby #ENGvCHI pic.twitter.com/lVmON8IPEZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 19, 2023
England (vs Chile, Saturday – 5:45pm local time, Lille)
15. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 26 caps)
14. Henry Arundell (Racing 92, 8 caps)
13. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 61 caps)
12. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 16 caps)
11. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 21 caps)
10. Owen Farrell – captain (Saracens, 107 caps)
9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 91 caps)
1. Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 3 caps)
2. Theo Dan (Saracens, 5 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 64 caps)
4. David Ribbans (Toulon, 8 caps)
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
6. Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 23 caps)
7. Jack Willis (Toulouse, 13 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 71 caps)
Replacements:
16. Jack Walker (Harlequins, 4 caps)
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 84 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 31 caps)
19. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)
20. Ben Earl (Saracens, 20 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 125 caps)
22. George Ford – vice-captain (Sale Sharks, 87 caps)
23. Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 21 caps)
Comments on RugbyPass
No doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
191 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
191 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
191 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
2 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
2 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
1 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
191 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
191 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
191 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
191 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
191 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
191 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
191 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the desperation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
191 Go to comments