Starter: Tom Croft
Leicester Tigers flanker Tom Croft will start at six for England against Wales as he continues his recovery from serious injury.
Croft made his first appearance in an England shirt for a year last weekend in the victory over Italy, after suffering a neck injury that left him close to paralysis.
England's other changes see Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell return at half-back in place of Danny Care and Toby Flood, who both drop to the bench.
The remaining change to the starting XV sees Harlequins prop Joe Marler start at loosehead ahead of Mako Vunipola.
Joe Launchbury and Geoff Parling have both recovered from injury to start in the second row, with James Haskell amongst the substitutes.
"We have come a long way through the November series and the Six Nations and we want to finish well on what will be a fantastic occasion in Cardiff," said England head coach Stuart Lancaster.
"It will be a great experience for our English team. Every single player, whether they are in the 23 or not this Saturday, has contributed to getting us in this position and they should be proud of that.
"The support of the country has been great throughout the tournament and I am sure they will be right behind us come 5 o'clock."
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Croft, 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 Billy Twelvetrees.
Date: Saturday, 16 March
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 17:00 GMT
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Comments
jamesliveinhope says...
@greendip - yes, every point counts as double because every point added to Wales's points difference reduces England's by the same amount as they are the direct opposition.
Posted 12:20 14th March 2013
stokesy says...
@GreenDip - the current gap is 14... if Wales win by 7 their points difference goes up by 7, and Englands goes down by 7... so ou points difference would then be the same and it would be down to try differences (which they currently edge 7 to 5)
Posted 12:10 14th March 2013
daibok says...
Greendip
Everypoint scored is 1 to the scoring team and one off the other team. So yes, each point scored counts double for either team.
Posted 12:06 14th March 2013
mayhem says...
@Greendip,
Think of it as a point swing, for every point Wales gain, England also lose a point advantage hence the 7 point margin. Hope this helps
Posted 11:57 14th March 2013
JamieTheProp says...
I don't understand why the Welsh are so confident they are going to win this game?
England have had one bad game in the tournament and that was against an Italy team playing better than I have ever seen them play. Last week Wales made it look hard against a very poor Scotland team (who offered an awful lot less than Italy).
I know home advantage is a factor and Wales have big old wingers - but England do have a very good defence across the team and even if Ashton does slip off the odd tackle the cover defence is also sound.
And when it comes to Ashton I thought he could have had two tries on Sunday - but for an excellent last ditch tackle and an occasion where the ball should have been passed to him and wasn't.
I think it will be a very, very close game between two closely matched teams. The only difference being that one is unbeaten and the other has lost shipping a lot of points.
If England can gain parity in the scrum I see this being a victory for England - if not then I think Wales will nick it by more than the 7. We shall see.
Posted 11:52 14th March 2013
Propmelsey says...
@ GreenDip .... Dont worry about the points difference mate ... England will win by 10 or more so the maths won't be needed .. Despite the poor facility that the millenium stadium is for hosting a game of rugby ...... Still .. it's the same for both teams i suppose .....
Posted 11:41 14th March 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Surprised by Marlers return but agree. Good selection.
Posted 11:19 14th March 2013
cymruambyth says...
Ashton is in - YES!
Posted 11:09 14th March 2013
craigster99 says...
Lets hope Craig Joubert doesn't ruin this one as well, wonder if he'll still have his Wales scarf on for this one?
Posted 10:56 14th March 2013
melkdave says...
Well the dyes cast ,lets all hope its a cracking game.Its going to be a hard close game ive no dought.Id like England to be victorious,(im english after all lol),and i think they will be by 5-7 points at the end .Heres hoping anyway lol.
Posted 10:55 14th March 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
oh well, we're playing a team that throws players into every ruck to either turn the ball over or slow it down so everyone's standing about waiting for it to come out. And then we pick Serial Winger Wannabe Tom Croft in the back row...
We're not making easy for ourselves, are we. If England win this match then Chris Robshaw is nailed on as lions captain, becasue he'll have had to have been absolutley everywhere for the entire 80 minutes. The amazing thing is, I'm not putting it past him to pull it off. You want someone to put your faith in to carry the day then look no further than Chris Robshaw.
Posted 10:52 14th March 2013
comeonletsplay says...
Not too bad. Mr Reliable in the centers, but for me, I would have liked to see Manu dropped, Barritt slide to 13 and 36 at 12. I think more dynamic movement in the centers will make Roberts work harder. He will stand there and take a battering all day long, why not make him run!
Posted 10:44 14th March 2013
Chinstan says...
My big concern with this team is the lack of 8 in the 23. I think come scrum time we are going to struggle to get parity with a fairly lightweight back three. I am also not very happy about only having 1 (underperforming) winger in the 23. That said if we can hang on at scrum time think that having croft in the loose is a good call!
Can't work out if this game is going to be a belter or a turgid afair? Wales will come out all guns blazing having to win by more than 7 just hope we don't just try and not loose as that rarely works. Either way excited already going to be exhausted come the final whistle on Sat.
Posted 10:33 14th March 2013
GreenDip says...
Decent enough team, let's hope that certain individuals heeded last weekend's wake-up call.
One thing still baffles: never having been very good at maths, I can't get my head round the permutation that says that Wales only need to win by a margin of 7 points to win the 2013 6N title. England have a points difference of +43 and Wales of +29. I always understood that 43 minus 29 = 14. Does every point that Wales score count as double, just because the opposition is England? Can someone wiser than me please explain?
Posted 10:30 14th March 2013