Farrell pivotal to English cause
Coach Stuart Lancaster has made four personnel changes to the England starting line-up for Saturday’s crunch Six Nations match against Wales at Twickenham.
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Ben Morgan (Scarlets) and Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers) will all start their first Tests at the home of English rugby, after coming off the bench against Scotland and Italy.
In addition, Owen Farrell will move to No.10 in place of Charlie Hodgson, who has not recovered from an injury to his left index finger, with Leicester Tigers’ Manu Tuilagi coming in at No.13.
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) and Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), meanwhile, will make their first appearances of the campaign on the bench.
“It’s been a good start with two wins, but we’ve got real competition for places – with Lee, Ben and Geoff deserving an opportunity to start this game,” said coach Lancaster.
“It means that Phil [Dowson] and Ben [Youngs] will provide a different role from the bench and it’s great to have Courtney and Toby, who can also give us options in what I am sure will be a full-on encounter.
“Charlie cut his finger in training earlier in the week and needed stitches, but it swelled up and there is a sprain there. We assessed him this [Thursday] morning and he cannot grip fully.
“Owen has trained throughout and knows our patterns and plays so we are fully confident in his ability to run the game from 10 and we are looking forward to seeing how Brad and Manu gel together in the centre.
“It’s our first home game of the Six Nations which we are really excited about and we are sure the crowd will get behind us just as the travelling supporters have done in Scotland and Italy. Playing at Twickenham makes it extra special for us and I know we will get all the encouragement we need.”
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mike Brown.
Date: Saturday, February 25
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16.00 (16.00 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
