Danny Cipriani to make first England start in a decade

Danny Cipriani will start his first England game since 2008 after replacing George Ford in the line-up for the third Test against South Africa.

There are two other changes to the XV with Joe Marler (Harlequins) named in the front-row, replacing Mako Vunipola (Saracens), while Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) is at blindside ahead of Brad Shields (Hurricanes/ Wasps) at blindside flanker due to illness.

Head coach Eddie Jones said: “We’ve had a really upbeat training week. We are up for the battle and are going to rip in on Saturday. We want another committed performance where it will be crucial to maintain our composure when the heat is on.

“We are expecting a wet and windy old day at Newlands and have elected to play Danny Cipriani ahead of George Ford to give us a left-foot kicking option. We will need to jump out of the blocks quickly again and make sure we maintain that pressure and make good decisions.

“I’ve been really impressed with the fortitude of the squad under Owen Farrell, who is a young captain, and with a number of young players who have really stuck to the task.”

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Mike Brown, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Sam Simmonds, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Denny Solomona

Date: Saturday, June 23
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17:05 local (16:05 BST, 15:05 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

[playbuzz-item item=”07cc0e83-78d3-4860-84c3-4e456da0a47f” info=”false” shares=”false” wp-pb-id=”857332″]