ENGLAND LOOK TO EXTEND DOMINANCE OVER SCOTLAND
France aim to get their tournament up and running against Italy and Ireland are set for Wales
Eddie Jones has never seen Nathan Hughes in “better physical condition” after the England coach named the Wasps’ forward at No 8 for tomorrow’s Six Nations clash against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Hughes is the only change to the England side that beat Wales 12-6 at Twickenham in the last outing and will replace Sam Simmonds, who will miss the next two games with a shoulder injury.
While Hughes has recently recovered from a knee injury, Jones insisted 26-year-old Fijian-born player returns to the side in top condition.
“Nathan Hughes has worked hard on his fitness. I’ve never seen him in better physical condition so we are looking forward to him playing,” said Jones, who will be aiming to extend England’s decade-long dominance over their neighbours to the north. “Nathan has a key role in defence and in us gaining momentum in attack.”
Captain Dylan Hartley will surpass Johnny Wilkinson as the second most-capped England player in history when he runs out for his 92nd appearance and he is closing on Jason Leonard (114 caps) at the top of the list.
Lock Joe Launchbury will play his 50th Test appearance.
“They [Scotland] are renowned for their attack so we will need to put pressure on them, create opportunities through our defence for our attack, and convert those opportunities to points,” Jones said.
“Our preparation over the past two weeks has been important in that it has allowed us to regenerate the players, improve the fitness of some and to get a clear understanding on how we will play this weekend.”
Prop Joe Marler returns from a six-week suspension to take his place among the replacements ahead of Alec Hepburn.
England have not lost in their past 10 internationals against Scotland dating back to 2008 and sit level with Ireland on nine points at the top of the Six Nations standings after two matches.
While Jones has made a change to his side, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has named an unchanged team from the one that beat France at Murrayfield in the last fixture.
Tomorrow’s earlier fixture will see Ireland host Wales, with Andrew Porter and Chris Farrell set to make their first starts for Joe Schmidt’s side at Lansdowne Road. Porter will have to fill the sizeable boots of British and Irish Lion prop Tadhg Furlong, who misses the encounter with a hamstring injury. Farrell comes in at centre for the injured Robbie Henshaw.
Other changes from the starting XV that thrashed Italy 5619 to make it two wins from two see CJ Stander return at No 8 instead of Jack Conan, James Ryan replace the injured Iain Henderson in the second row, and veteran prop Cian Healy come in for Jack McGrath.
“Tadgh was close but we decided not to risk him and to wait for the Scotland match in a fortnight,” Ireland coach Schmidt said.
“Andrew [Porter] did a sterling job against Italy and acquitted himself really well. This will be a step up but it is a learning process for him and nowhere else better to do so than against a tough team like Wales.”
Tonight’s match pits the two tournament strugglers against each other, although France captain Guilhem Guirado is determined to drag his side out of the mire.
France are on an 11-month, eight-match winless streak and have won just three times in their past 15 matches.
They host Italy in Marseille in what many are now seeing as this season’s battle to avoid the wooden spoon.
“We’ve put ourselves in [trouble] a bit, now we’ll try to get out of it together,” Guirado said. “It’s true there’s a special context to this match because we’ve lost a lot of matches - too many.
“But we hope that with the result and desire we produce tomorrow we’ll embark on a new series – this time wins.”