England caretaker coach Stuart Lancaster has named his team to face Scotland with three new caps in the starting line up for Saturday’s Six Nations match at Murrayfield.
rugbyweek
Saracens Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell will form a new centre pairing at international level, while Northampton Saints’ Phil Dowson makes his debut at No 8.
The match 22 sees five more uncapped players on the replacements’ bench – Rob Webber (London Wasps), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) and Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins).
Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field.
“Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge – Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations – but one we are relishing.”
England
15 – Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
14 – Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13 – Brad Barritt (Saracens)*
12 – Owen Farrell (Saracens)*
11 – David Strettle (Saracens)
10 – Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
9 – Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
1 – Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
2 – Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 – Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 – Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
5 – Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
6 – Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
7 – Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt)
8 – Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)*
Replacements
16 – Rob Webber (London Wasps)*
17 – Matt Stevens (Saracens)
18 – Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)*
19 – Ben Morgan (Scarlets)*
20 – Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)*
21 – Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)*
22 – Mike Brown (Harlequins)
*Uncapped
Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) and Joe Marler (Harlequins) will travel as reserves.
I predicted this. Johnson kept his old mates there too long before. Theres actually 3 Saffers in this squad. Brad, Mouritz Botha and Matt Stevens….all from Saracens. So the coach is clearly using top clubs as a guideline. This is not a bad team!!! don’t know what the hell Strettle is doing there though, the man is very average.
Good to see Brad Barrit get the chance, he’s certainly put in the hard yards, and deserves it. I wonder if he would have made the Boks side if he had stayed?
@ Just For Kicks:
I reckon he would have been a contender he certainly did very well for the Sharks at Currie Cup and Super 12 level. But with two of the best centres in the world in the squad (Mossie and Jean) probably in the squad through to the 2011 world cup I think he saw the writing on the wall….coupled with an opportunity to make money in the UK he moved over. He must have thought long and hard when they included him in the greater England squad and Saxons team about where his future would be best suited. perhaps this is why Johnson overlooked him…because playing Saxons did not exclude him from playing for the Boks did it? He had an iffish season two years ago but has certinaly come good now….he may also ahve been carrying an injury, although he doesn’t look like guy who gets injured easily. The English press don’t write about him much…..so he has his opportunity now to cement his place in the first team.
oh his style of play also suits England/Europe conditions better.
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