Eddie Jones has named his side for England’s RBS 6 Nations opener against France at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday and it contains three British & Irish Lions.
Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell and Dan Cole are all picked to start for Le Crunch as the Red Rose look to pick up where they left off in 2016.
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Jones makes five changes to the starting XV that defeated Australia at the end of last year to complete an unbeaten calendar year.
Elliot Daly shifts from his preferred position of outside centre with Wasps to start on the left wing with Jonny May installed on the right.
In the scrum Joe Marler has staged a remarkable recovery from a fractured leg to pack down at loosehead.
Joe Launchbury is named in the second-row and Maro Itoje starts at blindside flanker for the first time in an international, making up a match-day XV totalling 595 caps.
On the bench there are returns for loose-head prop Matt Mullan, flanker James Haskell and wing Jack Nowell – the latter of whom who have been in contention for a starting spot if he had not missed two days of training this week.
“We’ve been able to select a very strong and experienced team to play against France and we are excited to get the tournament underway,” said England head coach Jones.
RBS 6 NATIONS | Eddie Jones talks Daly, Itoje…and France: https://t.co/Ui9nAagIHB#ENGvFRA #CarryThemHome ? pic.twitter.com/Kaacwg7Af9
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 2, 2017
“There’s a great rivalry between the countries so we’re looking forward to a great occasion playing against one of England’s oldest foes.
“In rugby terms you’ve traditionally got two contrasting styles – French flair and England’s dogged conservative approach, but we want to be absolutely daring against the French in this first game and set the standard for the tournament.
“Guy Noves likes a big team. He picks a traditional French forward pack with squat front-rowers who scrummage well, big locks who give a lot of ballast and athletic back-rowers. It’s based on size and crunching that gain line, getting an off-load and then playing with flair. Of course this gives you an opportunity when you’ve got a big forward pack against you and we intend to exploit that.
“We want to get better all of the time, we are ambitious and we want to be the number one team in the world.
“It’s exciting to be back at Twickenham. We’ve got great supporters and we’re looking forward to hearing them turn the volume up on Saturday.”
England match-day 23 for the RBS 6 Nations game against France
15. Mike Brown (vice captain, Harlequins, 55 caps)
14. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 22 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 29 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (vice captain, Saracens, 47 caps)
11. Elliot Daly (Wasps, 8 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 30 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 65 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 46 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (captain, Northampton Saints, 79 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 69 caps)
4. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 37 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 53 caps)
6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 7 caps)
7. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 45 caps)
8. Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 3 caps)
Replacements
16. Jamie George (Saracens, 12 caps)
17. Matt Mullan (Wasps, 13 caps)
18. Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 4 caps)
19. Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
20. James Haskell (Wasps, 70 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 66 caps)
22. Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors, 3 caps)
23. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)
