Five Saracens named in England squad to take on Ireland

Head Coach Steve Borthwick has named five Saracens in the squad to face Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

Captain Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl will all start, with Theo Dan and Elliot Daly on the bench. Elsewhere this weekend, Andy Christie will make his first Scotland start as they travel to Rome to take on Italy in the early kick off on Saturday.

“As always, we’ve selected what we think is our strongest 23 to leave us best placed to win the game,” said Borthwick.

“Ireland are without doubt currently one of the best teams in the world, and we’ll have to be at our very best against them on Saturday.
We’ve prepared well for what will be another classic Six Nations game at Twickenham."

England team to face Ireland:

15. George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 7 caps)
14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs, 2 caps)
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 60 caps)
12. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 22 caps)
11. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 6 caps)
10. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 94 caps) – vice captain
9. Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 13 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 60 caps) – vice captain
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 88 caps) – captain
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 110 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 79 caps) – vice captain
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 10 caps)
6. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 21 caps)
7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 33 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 28 caps)

Replacements:
16. Theo Dan (Saracens, 10 caps)
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 91 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 36 caps)
19. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 3 caps)
20. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 15 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 99 caps)
22. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 30 caps)
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 67 caps)