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Te'o handed first England start, bench role for Vunipola

England centre Ben Te’o

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.”

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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Tom 1 hour ago
Eben Etzebeth staring at huge ban after another red card

Well… I'd say the modern Boks are not a particularly violent team but it's impossible to getaway with much violence on an international rugby field now. The Boks of yesteryear were at times brutal. Whether or not the reputation is justified, they do have that reputation amongst a lot of rugby fans.

As for point 2.. it's a tricky one, I don't want to slander a nation here. I'm no “Bok hater”, but I've gotta say some Bok fans are the most obnoxious fans I've personally encountered. Notably this didn't seem to be a problem until the Boks became the best in the world. I agree that fans from other nations can be awful too, every nation has it's fair share of d-heads but going on any rugby forum or YouTube comments is quite tedious these days owing to the legions of partisan Bok fans who jump onto every thread regardless of if it's about the Boks to tell everyone how much better the Boks are than everyone else. A Saffa once told me that SA is a troubled country and because of that the Boks are a symbol of SA victory against all odds so that's why the fans are so passionate. At least you recognise that there is an issue with some Bok fans, that's more than many are willing to concede. Whatever the reason, it's just boring is all I can tell you and I can say coming from a place of absolute honesty I encounter far, far more arrogance and obnoxious behaviour from Bok fans than any other fanbase - the kiwis were nothing like this when they were on top. So look much love to SA, I bear no hatred of ill will, I just want to have conversations about rugby without being told constantly that the Boks are the best team in the world and all coaches except Rassie are useless etc



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