Debut: Billy Twelvetrees
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Uncapped Gloucester centre Billy Twelvetrees will start for England against Scotland at Twickenham.
Twelvetrees comes in for Manu Tuilagi, while Joe Marler replaces Alex Corbisiero in two changes from the side that started against New Zealand.
Dylan Hartley, Toby Flood and David Strettle come on to the replacements' bench for David Paice, Freddie Burns and Jonathan Joseph respectively.
"We are happy to stick with the team that did so well against New Zealand, especially in light of the fact that they have all been in good form for their clubs since then," said England head coach Stuart Lancaster.
"There were some very tight calls, with some experienced players coming back into contention, and I am sure the bench will have a significant impact on the game.
"We can't wait to get back to Twickenham and hopefully experience the same atmosphere as the autumn when the crowd was superb. It means a lot to the players to have such support in the ground and watching on television."
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 David Strettle.
Date: Saturday, 2 February
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 16:00 GMT
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Comments
boksmashoffice says...
@APV1 says: I am winding you northies up. Good luck tomorrow. Surly the Calcutta cup should be renamed The Kolkata cup.
Posted 22:16 01st February 2013
APV1 says...
@ lawynd - he's in his late 20s, not over the hill yet!
And I had Wade on the bench with Farrell and Goode.
I must admit to have been tempted by:
10 - Ford (after his transfer)
11 - Biggs
12 - Rokoduguni
13 - Banahan
14 - Eastmond
15 - Abendanon
with
Hipkiss, Williams and Woodburn on the bench.
Look familiar, doesn't it?
;-)
Posted 16:09 01st February 2013
lawynd says...
@APV1 - naughty, Biggs is hardly one for the future! A good player, nonetheless. I'm still planning on nailing my colours to a Wade/Benjamin ticket out wide, although the rest of the backs you've named I'd leave as they are.
Posted 13:42 01st February 2013
APV1 says...
@ logophile - Hear! Hear!
How's this for the future?
10 Burns
11 Biggs
12 Twelvetrees
13 Tuilagi
14 Foden
15 Brown
Posted 12:24 01st February 2013
logophile says...
I am looking forward to the day that Freddie Burns is the starting fly-half. In my opinion, he is the best England has to offer, and he is only going to get better.
Posted 22:29 31st January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Boksmash: good as your last game. We will measure England on the Scotland game after Saturday. That's how it works.
Posted 21:58 31st January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Heartofoak: I should add... And if you only take one of them, as you do say "or"... Then Tuilagi is of the same class although completely different.
Posted 21:56 31st January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Heartofoak: that's tough. Greenwood and Guscott were not same era so we didn't have that depth when they were at their best either.
Posted 21:52 31st January 2013
georgesmith says...
Quality player B. Twelvetrees. English to take it easily.
Posted 20:21 31st January 2013
NHsaints says...
Barritt has earned his place with performance after performance that screams of efficient winning style, that's why we have him, he's almost spectacularly solid in defence and has pretty good distribution. 12trees can run the ball down some great lines and has good footwork, kicking, passing and dummying capacity...I expect him to be our starting 12 by the end of the year. On another note we finally have the mix of youth and out and out skill in the starting 15 to get ahead of good teams and then the crushingly experienced forms of Flood, Care, Wilson, Hartley and Haskell on the bench who are all very good players (much like vunipola and Lawes who we can bring on for a big boost) to come on and close the games out. Literally my only gripe is Strettle being selected over Foden who should be on the bench for his experience as he can cover 9, 11, 14, 15 (and theoretically 12 and 13) and Johnson also used him a couple of times as a first receiver (10) which didn't go too badly. Not to mention when he returns to form we should move Brown to 15 and Foden to 11.
Posted 20:15 31st January 2013
heart_of_oak says...
on a more serious note, there are several good Scottish players and to be quite honest, they could spring a surprise. It's possible. Before the game against the All Blacks, if memory serves, I said it'd be a miracle if we lost by less than 30 points.
Anyway, I do rate Richie Gray and see him as a Lions second row. But the move to Sale hasn't done him any favours. He needs a very good 6N to come back into everyone's reckoning.... just please not against England.
Posted 19:27 31st January 2013
Honestpom says...
@ Boksmashoffice, see exactly where you are coming from and in the past that has to often been the case ( same in a lot of other sports as well ). I sense things are different now, the AB game is well in the past but it has given us a great foundation to build on and i hope we don't blow it.
Posted 19:16 31st January 2013
TheGreatOne says...
@boksmas you so right. I always find it hilarious reading the English press the day after an England victory. You'd swear they just won some sort of intergalactic 100 year war against aliens intent on exterminating the human race. Even when they lose it's funny reading all the "Brave England" headlines. Can't wait for old Twelveweeds to meet Bakkies Botha
Posted 19:09 31st January 2013
APV1 says...
@ boksmashoffice - I know I shouldn't take the bait, but what are you on about?
Posted 18:17 31st January 2013
boksmashoffice says...
One win v the all blacks and now these guys think they are world beaters. You have got to love the Brit mentality. They will keep looking back at this win for the next 12 years.
Posted 17:54 31st January 2013
Frooschman says...
@ chubbylugs "the best centre partnership england have had since 2003 was tindall and hape" ... speechless. I'm not saying you're wrong. It's been a long day and my brain hurts so I'm struggling a bit but if that is true I really have wasted the last 9/10 years supprting this shower in white!
Posted 17:23 31st January 2013
chubbylugs says...
I am not concerned with the lack of pace in the centre.
the best centre partnership england have had since 2003 was tindall and hape - neither were paricularly quick, but they were solid, good distributers and defensively very organised. they did also make line breaks and score some points.
I think you really only need genuine pace in the back 3 + how many times do you get space to take the outside - most breaks are through finding holes and footwork anyway
Posted 16:06 31st January 2013
Heart_of_oak says...
Apv1 - I think I agree with carpelone about are centres. He didn't actually say we have no good centres just that we're short of good ones. We only have Manu when fit who I'd call good and even Manu is a bit one dimensional.
Who do we have now whom you could say is in the same class as greenwood or guscott ?
I think it's good of these non English chaps to highlight for us where we need to improve don't you ?
And by way of returning the favour I'm trying to think of some good Scottish players.
I'll come back to you all on this but don't hold your breath.
Posted 15:34 31st January 2013
lawynd says...
@Centre12 - a bit harsh on Sharples there, who has two tries in his three England caps...that's twice as many tries as Strettle in slightly less than half the number of caps!
Personally, I'd like to see a proper wing combo that scores tries on a regular basis, which we've not had for some time. A bit of Leicester bias here but I could see Miles Benjamin being an excellent counterbalance to Wade in the future, with his pace and power being a good foil to Wade's reflexes and acceleration. 60 tries in 123 appearances for an average Worcester team is not to be sniffed at.
Posted 14:28 31st January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Barrett has been excellent. And improving. He must start. You need your rocks as well as flash harries. He was part of 3 tries vs ABs. And hes marking Lamont. better this than Farrell at 13. am happy enough now. Continuity is excellent re Flood and Hartley and Lawes returning only to bench. Both Youngs deserve their start. Ben has X factor and for a fast game to give your backs a run he's got the edge on Care. Care is fantastic so it's a tough call but not a bad one. Continuity makes it right too. If the backs click fast its a good win but Acotland will surely hit them at source. Youngs speed will be needed. Ashton run lines off Fez, Brown off 12/3s. Go boys, shred them! Start incredibly fast. 45 to 9. That's my non arrogant prediction for Telfer.
Posted 13:57 31st January 2013