New-look England as Eddie swings axe

LONDON: Dylan Hartley is back to lead England in their final Six Nations game against Ireland tomorrow, but halfbacks George Ford and Danny Care are discarded along with prop Dan Cole as coach Eddie Jones takes radical action after successive defeats.

Hartley missed last week’s loss to France but has recovered from a calf strain and is one of seven changes to the starting line-up.

Jones has brought in Richard Wigglesworth at scrumhalf and moved Owen Farrell to flyhalf, with Ben Te’o and Jonathan Joseph in the centres.

There is also a new-look back row, with James Haskell starting at openside flanker, Sam Simmonds at number eight and Chris Robshaw moved back to blindside. Simmonds and Robshaw replace injured duo Nathan Hughes and Courtney Lawes.

Anthony Watson retains the fullback shirt, with Mike Brown again on the bench.

“We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and play there,” Jones said. “We have had a couple of tough games on the road and to get back and play in front of our 24th man will be exciting for the players. Ireland is a very good team. We have seen in every game the physical contest has been enormous, so we have to meet that physical challenge and then play smart tactically.”

The Australian had delayed naming his team to run fitness tests on Hartley and Elliot Daly, who has been declared fit to start after recovering from a foot injury.

Prop Kyle Sinckler gets a starting berth after an impressive cameo in his previous outing, with Cole dropped to the bench while George Kruis starts in the second row ahead of Joe Launchbury. Exeter’s Dom Armand, the stand-out back rower in the Premiership this season is named among the replacements. – Reuters