Manu Tuilagi, Sam Underhill and Owen Farrell return to start for England vs Ireland
Written by News on 22/08/2019
England head coach Eddie Jones has been able to recall centre Manu Tuilagi and flanker Sam Underhill for Saturday’s clash with Ireland, while skipper Owen Farrell starts at inside-centre.
Elsewhere in the 23-man squad, wing Jonny May makes his first appearance of the summer series, while loosehead prop Mako Vunipola has returned to the bench after his long-term hamstring injury.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs starts for the first time this summer, while Tom Curry has shaken off his injury to start at blindside alongside Underhill in the backrow, with Billy Vunipola again at No 8.
In the backs, Joe Cokanasiga swaps to the right wing to accommodate May, while George Ford remains in the out-half slot as Jones again tries out the dual-playmaker Ford/Farrell combination at 10/12 – the first time he has done so since June 2017.
“The players have come back in a very good physical and mental state and we have had a good preparation this week,” Jones said. “We purposefully made the week short looking ahead to the World Cup where this might happen beyond our control.
“It is the third of four games for us and come the 8th of September, when we get on the plane, we want to be ready to go. This is another step forward for us.
“This weekend we will be looking to gain more game fitness and testing different sorts of game strategies. We have a specific way of how we want to play and the focus is very much on ourselves.
“We have been so appreciative of the support we have had at Twickenham this year and this is our last match there before the tournament, so we look forward to playing well in front of our fans.”
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
Watch England vs Ireland exclusively live on Sky Sports Action from 2pm and on Sky Sports Main Event from 3pm on Saturday.
(c) Sky Sports 2019: Manu Tuilagi, Sam Underhill and Owen Farrell return to start for England vs Ireland
