England centre Joseph's return delayed
TEAM UPDATE: Joe Marchant has replaced Jonathan Joseph on the replacements bench for England’s Rugby World Cup warm-up Test with Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.
The 23-year-old centre, who won his first cap when he came on for the last two minutes of the win over Wales a fortnight ago, comes in because Joseph has “muscle soreness”.
Marchant is not, at the moment, in England’s 31-man squad for the World Cup in Japan.
“Joe Marchant has replaced Jonathan Joseph in England’s match day squad ahead of this afternoon’s Test against Ireland,” read the Rugby Football Union statement.
“England head coach Eddie Jones has decided not to risk Joseph who has muscle soreness this morning.”
England – revised: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Joe Marchant.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Christiaan Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Jean Kleyn, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Andrew Conway.
Date: Saturday, August 24
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT)
Expected weather: Mostly sunny and very warm. High of 28°C and low of 16°C
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Alex Ruiz (France)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)