Georgia on their minds
Tigers pair start for England
LEICESTER Tigers pair Ben Youngs and Ellis Genge have been selected in the England team to face Georgia in the Autumn Nations Cup tomorrow.
Scrum-half Youngs, right, keeps his place after winning his 100th cap against Italy to help England clinch the Six Nations title.
But the pack includes two new starting props in Genge and Will Stuart.
Coach Eddie Jones also gives “tough” Wasps flanker Jack Willis his debut against Georgia at Twickenham.
Willis’ stellar season continues after he swept the board at the end of season awards in recognition of an outstanding 201920.
Sam Underhill has been rested so Willis is given the opportunity to prove the breakdown expertise that has taken the Gallagher Premiership by storm can be a similarly destructive force at international level.
Last season, the 23-yearold plundered 46 turnovers – 27 more than his nearest rival – to establish himself as one of English rugby’s most influential players.
“Jack has got a good nose for the ball. He gets himself into good positions. He’s got good natural strength – he’s not a gym-strength person – and he’s flipping tough,” Jones said. “Turnovers are the highlight part of his game, but he’s also a good defender and he’s an attacker that gets his hands on the ball.
“He’s one of the few forwards in English rugby who is good at ‘pick and go’, so he brings that to the game.” Powerful Worcester centre Ollie Lawrence wins his second cap after making his debut off the bench in last month’s 34-5 victory over Italy that sealed the third Six Nations title of the Jones era.
Joe Launchbury’s return to the second row sees Maro Itoje switch to blindside flanker at the expense of Jonny Hill, who is omitted from the 23 altogether. Launchbury forms a new lock partnership with Charlie Ewels.
The Autumn Nations Cup is to be staged behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Jones refuses to view a game at Twickenham with no fans as a potentially surreal experience.
“The only thing we’ll experience is gratefulness. Obviously, we would like to have fans there, but just to be able to play top-level rugby is a privilege for us so we are just excited about playing.”
England team: 15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 43 caps), 14 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 51 caps), 13 Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 1 cap), 12 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps), 11 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 57 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (c) (Saracens, 83 caps), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps), 1 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 19 caps),
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 50 caps), 3 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 4 caps), 4 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 16 caps), 5 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 65 caps), 6 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 39 caps), 7 Jack Willis (Wasps, uncapped), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps).