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England name team to take on Italy


The England team line up for the national anthem prior to the Guinness Six Nations match against Wales (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
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Eddie Jones has selected an England team to play Italy on Saturday in their next Guinness Six Nations match showing five changes to the starting XV that played Wales a fortnight ago.

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Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby) starts on the right wing for his fourth cap while Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) comes in at inside centre with Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers) moving to outside centre.

Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers) starts at loosehead prop with Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs) shifting to the bench. Joe Launchbury (Wasps) is named in the second row following the injury of Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) in Cardiff. Brad Shields (Wasps) will start at blindside flanker with Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons) named as a finisher.

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) and Nathan Hughes (Wasps) are both named as finishers having not been involved in England’s previous match against Wales.

Eddie Jones said: “We have had a good preparation ahead of Italy with a great week in Oxford where we competed against Georgia for two days. Players have had a good break and have come back into camp reenergised and refocused for what is an important game for us.”

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He added: “Italy is a bit of an unknown quantity but when Conor (O’Shea) allows them to play rugby they play well. They have played terrific games in the Six Nations. They are fitter, physically stay in the contest a lot longer and they are quite unpredictable in the way they attack.

“We expect Italy to throw the ball around a bit so we are going to have to defend very well against their unpredictability and when we have got the ball, we have to use it wisely.”

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On returning to Twickenham, Jones said: “We are looking forward to getting back to Twickenham. We haven’t played there since the France game so it will be nice to play in front of our home crowd.”

England starting XV (472 caps)

15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 28 caps)

14 Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)

13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 30 caps)

12 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors 16 caps)

11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 43 caps)

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10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 68 caps) (captain)

9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 83 caps)

1 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 7 caps)

2 Jamie George (Saracens, 35 caps)

3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 20 caps)

4 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 56 caps)

5 George Kruis (Saracens, 30 caps)

6 Brad Shields (Wasps, 6 caps)

7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 8 caps)

8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 39 caps)

Finishers (203 caps)

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)

17 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 6 caps)

18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 83 caps)

19 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 20 caps)

20 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 11 caps)

21 Dan Robson (Wasps, 1 cap)

22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 53 caps)

23 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 20 caps)

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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