Four Leicester Tigers players named in England squad
Four Leicester Tigers players have been named in the England squad for their opening RBS 6 Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Tom Croft are in a team containing three new caps and Geoff Parling is on the bench.
Saracens Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell will form a new centre pairing, while Northampton Saints' Phil Dowson makes his debut at No 8.
There are five more uncapped players on the replacements' bench – Parling, Rob Webber (London Wasps), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) and Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins).
Head coach Stuart Lancaster said: "We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field.
"Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge – Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations – but one we are relishing."
England: Ben Foden (Northampton Saints); Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), David Strettle (Saracens); Charlie Hodgson (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Mouritz Botha (Saracens),Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)
Reps: Rob Webber (London Wasps), Matt Stevens (Saracens), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Mike Brown (Harlequins).
3 Comments
by Oadbylad
Saturday, February 04 2012, 3:27PM
“I agree with all you say mate
Waldron most MOTM awards for a number 8 on Sky gets sent home loverlyjubberly for Tigers .....BUT ???????
England have not won at Murryfield since 2004 ....fact”
by Oakham Couriers
Thursday, February 02 2012, 6:17PM
“I'm dreading this game to be honest. Murrayfield is a hard enough place to go and get a result at the best of times, but there's a bit of added spice to this and bitter Andy Robinson has done all he can to stoke the fires ahead of kick off, add to that the fact that it's the opening game for both teams and chuck in the traditional rivalry, and i can only see one winner... I've never wanted a game to be postponed before, but a nice postponement due to Snow would suit me just fine!
Really looking forward to seeing a new gameplan in action and whilst i'm no fan of Sarries, it's hard to see past them at 10, 12 and 13, if nothing else we know those boys can tackle and they'll have an understanding of running lines etc that won't need to be worked on. Hodgson is the finest passer of the ball in the team and Barrit would run into a brick wall, Farrell has a lot to live up to but i reckon he'll come good.
The thing that puzzles me is, because of injuries, England are giving Dowson his debut at No7 - Dowson is 31yrs old... and in the Saxons we see Bannahan, Armitage (now suspended) and Monye lining up - have we suddenly run out of 21/22yr old players and what about building for the World Cup, is Dowson really expected to be in the side come 2015?
Anyhoo, it's going to be a seriously good tournament, looking at the sides then i'd say any 3 could win it with England looking a likely 4th place to me, it's always tough to lose games but we need to do what we've stopped doing over here, look at the bigger picture. Stop picking the best side for right now and pick the best side for next year, and the year after that... remember the tour from hell? Josh Lewsey, Lewis Moody, Phil Vickery, Graham Rowntree and a certain Johnny Wilkinson all stepped up after taking part in those record defeats, it's time to do it again now... the Six Nations from hell will hopefully uncover a new generation of legends!
Btw... i hope i'm wrong! I hope England win by 50 and don't break sweat, just for the record.”
by Oadbylad
Thursday, February 02 2012, 3:50PM
“Should be an interesting game to watch
Dont like the center pairings
Bookies have Scotland favs to win and its not very often they get it wrong”