England head coach Eddie Jones has reshuffled his backline ahead of this weekend’s visit of Ireland with Owen Farrell moving from inside centre to fly-half.
Farrell moves into first receiver in place of Leicester Tigers pivot George Ford who has dropped to the bench for Saturday’s match at Twickenham.
The Saracens out-half’s midfield partner Ben Te’o has moved from outside centre to inside centre with Jonathan Joseph moving back to outside centre in place of Te’o.
Elsewhere Jones has retained the back three of Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly and Jonny May, while he has made some notable changes in the halves and second row with Richard Wigglesworth replacing Danny Care at scrum-half and George Kruis coming in for Joe Launchbury at lock.
Injuries to Nathan Hughes and Courtney Lawes have created opportunities for Sam Simmonds and James Haskell to start at number eight and openside flanker respectively, while captain Dylan Hartley has recovered from a tight calf to return to the front-row with Lions hooker Jamie George dropping back to the bench.
#ENGvIRE | Your England team to face @IrishRugby at Twickenham on Saturday 🌹
Preview ➡ https://t.co/3pQ5bwv0F3 pic.twitter.com/DLmmLj5pYk
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 15, 2018
“We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and play there,” said Jones after naming his side.
“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,” said Jones.
“Ireland is 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.”
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