Slade starts for England against Italy

By Mark Stevens
10/2/23

Henry Slade will start for England in Sunday's Guinness Six Nations Championship clash with Italy at Twickenham Stadium (3pm).

The Exeter Chiefs star missed last weekend's Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland with a hip injury, but he is one of three changes Steve Borthwick has made to his starting line-up for this Round Two fixture.

Slade will line-up in a new-look midfield pairing alongside Bath's Ollie Lawrence with skipper Owen Farrell moving to fly-half in place of Marcus Smith, who drops to the bench.

In the only change to the forward pack, Jack Willis comes in at openside flanker for Ben Curry and will line-up in a back-row trio which also consists of Lewis Ludlam and Alex Dombrandt.

Head coach Steve Borthwick said: “We welcome an exciting and in form Italy team to Twickenham on Sunday. We recognise and respect the very real threat they pose in this Six Nations Championship and we are preparing accordingly.

“Notwithstanding the disappointment of last weekend’s Calcutta Cup result, we know that in a very short space of time positive steps have been taken towards the manner and style in which we want to play our rugby.

“We are at the start of what is a completely new cycle of England Rugby. The implementation of new systems does take time and the squad is showing themselves to be hungry to deliver the sort of performance that we know they are capable of.

“From the squad, I have selected a team for Sunday’s fixture that I believe is best placed to meet the specific challenges that Italy will bring. It is a selection of players whose form, individual strengths and combined qualities suit the way we want to play against Italy, in what we anticipate will be another hard-fought and entertaining spectacle.”

England v Italy is live on ITV and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

ENGLAND SIDE TO FACE ITALY

15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 18 caps)
14. Max Malins (Saracens, 15 caps)
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 52 caps)
12. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 8 caps)
11. Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, 1 cap)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 102 caps, capt)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 8 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 44 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 73 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 57 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 63 caps)
5. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 6 caps)
6. Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 15 caps)
7. Jack Willis (Toulouse, 6 caps)
8. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 10 caps)

16. Jack Walker (Harlequins, uncapped)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 75 caps)
18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 96 caps)
19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 9 caps)
20. Ben Earl (Saracens, 14 caps)
21. Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
22. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 18 caps)
23. Henry Arundell (London Irish, 3 caps)