Strettle blow for England
England wing David Strettle pulled out of the Six Nations clash with France on Saturday after suffering an injury, with his place in the starting XV going to Charlie Sharples.
Strettle failed a fitness test after suffering a flare-up of a chest injury and will now be replaced on the left wing by Gloucester’s Hong Kong-born youngster Charlie Sharples for Sunday’s clash at the Stade de France, the Rugby Football Union confirmed.
“Charlie has trained with us throughout the tournament so he has spent a lot of time with the other guys,” England interim coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.
“He almost made the World Cup squad and this is a great opportunity for him. It’s unfortunate for David but he has been fitness tested by the medics this morning and is not 100 percent so it is a straight swap and Charlie is ready to go,” Lancaster added.
The 22-year-old Sharples will be making his first Test start on Sunday, with his one previous cap coming as a replacement against Wales in a World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham last year.
England (revised): 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Charlie Sharples, 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 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Mike Brown.
Date: Sunday, March 11
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 16.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
AFP
