Six Saracens to face Samoa
Saracens have had six players named in the England squad for their final pool match against Samoa on Saturday afternoon.
Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Ben Earl and captain Owen Farrell will all start, with Theo Dan and Billy Vunipola on the bench.
Theo McFarland will also be in action at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy as he starts in the back-row for Samoa.
Farrell will captain a starting XV with 14 changes to the one that defeated Chile 71-0 in Lille two weeks ago. Going into this weekend’s match, Farrell needs just two points to become England’s all-time leading points scorer going past Jonny Wilkinson’s tally of 1,179.
“Whilst we are of course pleased with our results and qualification into the pool stages, we want to continue our improvement with a positive performance against a difficult and in-form Samoa team,” said Head Coach Steve Borthwick.
“Samoa are renowned for their physicality and this last game in the pool stages will be an excellent test for us as we continue in our Rugby World Cup journey.
“We are delighted to be heading back to Lille for this weekend’s fixture, where we enjoyed seeing so many England supporters for our last match. Once again, we look forward to seeing a sea of white England shirts in the stands of the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Saturday.”
ENGLAND v SAMOA
Saturday 7 October 2023
Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
Kick-off: 5.45pm (local time)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 28 caps)
14. Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 22 caps)
13. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 55 caps)
12. Owen Farrell – captain (Saracens, 108 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 75 caps)
10. George Ford – vice-captain (Sale Sharks, 88 caps)
9. Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 8 caps)
1. Ellis Genge – vice-captain (Bristol Bears, 54 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 81 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 103 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 72 caps)
5. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)
6. Courtney Lawes – vice-captain (Northampton Saints, 102 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 46 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 21 caps)
Replacements:
16. Theo Dan (Saracens, 6 caps)
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 85 caps)
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 65 caps)
19. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 6 caps)
20. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 72 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 92 caps)
22. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 27 caps)
23. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 17 caps)