Famous five to face Springboks

By Mark Stevens
1/11/18

England men’s head coach Eddie Jones has named his side to play South Africa in the first Test of the Quilter Internationals at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

Exeter Chiefs trio Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Alec Hepburn all start, while club-mates Ben Moon and Harry Williams have been named on the bench.

Saturday will mark a first-ever England start for Hepburn, while fellow prop Moon is one of two uncapped players named as finishers by Jones.

Elsewhere, Nowell - along with George Kruis (Saracens) and Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) are included for the first time since last season’s Six Nations.
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers) is named as a finisher having last played for England against Wales in the 2016 Six Nations.

“We’ve become very well organised in our set piece and have done a lot of good work in Portugal over the last week," said Jones. "We have put in a new defence system and our attack looks more organised than it was on the South Africa tour.”On taking on South Africa Jones said: “Against South Africa you have got the physical battle up front and then you have to be tactically smart in how you attack against them. We need to find ways to gain momentum, then once we find momentum, convert that to points. “We are really excited to be back at Twickenham Stadium. It’s been a long time and we can’t wait to play in front of 82,000 fans.”

England starting XV to face South Africa

15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 21 caps)
14 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 26 caps)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 13 caps)
12 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors, 13 caps)
11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 37 caps)
10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 61 caps co-capt)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 77 caps)
1 Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs, 2 caps)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 93 caps, co-capt)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 13 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 22 caps)
5 George Kruis (Saracens, 25 caps)
6 Brad Shields (Wasps, 2 caps)
7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 4 caps)
8 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 4 caps).

16 Jamie George (Saracens, 28 caps)
17 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
18 Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs, 11 caps)
19 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 6 caps)
20 Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
21 Danny Care (Harlequins, 81 caps)
22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 47 caps)
23 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 26 caps).