Chiefs duo named on bench for England

By Mark Stevens
21/2/20

Exeter Chiefs duo Luke Cowan-Dickie and Henry Slade have both been named in Eddie Jones’ England squad for Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations Championship clash withIreland at Twickenham Stadium (3pm).

Hooker Cowan-Dickie returns on the bench, alongside Slade, having missed the 13-6 victory over Scotland at BT Murrayfield last time out due to the birth of his young son.

Slade, meanwhile, is thrust straight back into he international fold, having recovered from the leg fracture he sustained in Exeter’s Gallagher Premiership win at Leicester Tigers in December.

The inclusion of both on the bench is a huge plus for head coach Jones, who has made changes to his starting line-up. Joe Marler comes into the front-row in place of the absent Mako Vunipola, Courtney Lawes is preferred to Northampton club-mate Lewis Ludlam in the back-row, while behind the scrum Ben Youngs is back at scrum-half at the expense of Willi Heinz and Manu Tuilagi’s return means there is a reshuffle with Jonathan Joseph moving to the wing and Elliot Daly switching to full-back.

Jones said: “We’ve had a really good training week with Thursday probably our best session of the Guinness Six Nations.

“Ireland are a very good team, extremely well-coached. They are a team we respect a lot. They will bring their usual physicality and under Andy Farrell they’ve opened up their game a little bit.

“They are a tactically smart team. Murray and Sexton, who have played 170 Tests between them, at nine and 10 will manage the game well. We’ve got to make sure we match their physicality and their emotion on the weekend.

“We trained at Twickenham Stadium in front of 10,000 fans last Friday and we can’t wait to get back out there in front of 80,000 people on Sunday.”

England starting XV to face Ireland

15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 41 caps)
14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 54 caps)
13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 41 caps)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens, capt 81 caps)
11 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 49 caps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 67 caps)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 97 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 69 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 47 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 33 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 36 caps)
5 George Kruis (Saracens, 43 caps)
6 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 83 caps)
7 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 17 caps)
8 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 21 caps)

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 22 caps)
17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
18 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 63 caps)
20 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 13 caps)
21 Ben Earl (Saracens, 1 cap)
22 Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, 11 caps)
23 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 27 caps)