England without trio for Ireland clash

England will be without wing Joe Cokanasiga, centre Ben Te’o and flanker Brad Shields for Saturday’s Six Nations opener against holders Ireland.

Cokanasiga (Bath) and Shields (Wasps) will remain with the squad to continue their reconditioning until Thursday when the team travel to Dublin. Te’o (Worcester Warriors), who has a side strain, will also stay in camp while the team is in Portugal.

Scrum-half Dan Robson is in line for his international debut having been retained in the 25.

Owen Farrell is also included having recovered from a hand injury, with Manu Tuilagi poised for a start at centre due to Te’o’s absence.

“We have Brad Shields, Joe Cokanasiga and Ben Te’o who are not far away from where we want them to be but in a game of this magnitude we need everyone to be 100% so they will stay with us and continue to rehab,” said scrum coach Neal Hatley. “The plan is to have them all fit for France.

“Ben suffered a small side strain in training, he is doing his rehab, is not far away, but as I say everyone needs to be fully fit.”

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Hatley however, says the squad can cope with the missing trio as they prepare for Saturday’s game with head coach Eddie Jones set to name his side on Thursday.

“We have had people running in different positions so we are pretty good at that and we make sure we comprehensively cover all the different permutations of what could happen so it’s not like Ben is the only person who has run at 12 for us,” added Hatley.

England 25-man squad

Forwards: Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)

Backs: Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Dan Robson (Wasps), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)