England drop Cokanasiga as Jones rings changes
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: England head coach Eddie Jones has named his team to play Scotland in their last Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium.
There are four changes to the starting XV that lined up against Italy last week. In the backs, Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) replaces Joe Cokanasiga (Bath) on the right wing and Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) replaces Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) who drops to the bench.
Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs) swaps with Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers) in the front row while Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons) comes in for Brad Shields (Wasps) who is named as a replacement.
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) will pick up his 85th cap for his country on Saturday and will become England’s most capped scrumhalf of all time moving ahead of Danny Care (Harlequins)
Jones said: “It is the last week of the tournament so it’s exciting. It will be a fascinating finish to the Championship with three teams that can win it and we are playing against one of our most traditional foes in Scotland for the Calcutta Cup. We have had a good preparation and the side is going to be in a great state to play against Scotland on Saturday.
“Scotland is a difficult side, they are always at you, they play with a lot of enthusiasm and effort and have got a lot of attacking strings to their bow. Finn Russell is an exceptional player at 10 and they have got some pace on the outside so we are going to have to defend really well against them.”
On Ben Youngs’ record he added: “It is a fantastic achievement, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work and it is something he and his family will be really proud of. I am sure he will do the shirt great justice out there on Saturday.”
The stage is set for a memorable #GuinnessSixNations finale 🔥
Here’s what Eddie had to say about #WALvIRE… pic.twitter.com/DTr6uMnNie
ADVERTISEMENT— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 14, 2019
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 George Kruis, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Brad Shields, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 George Ford, 23 Ben Te’o.
Date: Saturday, March 16
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
