England make late change to team ahead of Six Nations opener against Italy

England have been forced into a late alteration to their matchday squad ahead of their opening game of the 2024 Six Nations versus Italy after Ellis Genge was ruled out.

The late reshuffle comes on the bench as head coach Steve Borthwick has replaced Genge with Bath loosehead prop Beno Obano for today’s game at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) confirmed it was a foot injury that forced the Bristol Bears front-rower to pull out of the clash as England look to start with an away win.

Jamie George skipper

England are otherwise as they were from the team that was announced on Thursday, with hooker Jamie George captaining the side after taking over from Owen Farrell.

George is flanked by props Joe Marler and Will Stuart in the front-row while Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum link up in the second-row in a strong engine room partnership.

There is a starting debut at blindside flanker for New Zealand-born Ethan Roots and he is joined by Bath’s Sam Underhill and Rugby World Cup star Ben Earl in the back-row.

Alex Mitchell came through an injury scare to start and will partner George Ford in the half-back, with Fraser Dingwall and Henry Slade forming the centre combination.

Completing the starting line-up is full-back Freddie Steward and wings Tommy Freeman and Elliot Daly, with the uncapped wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso named on the bench.

Late call-up Obano is joined on the pine by Theo Dan, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-South, Danny Care, Fin Smith and Feyi-Waboso as options to Borthwick.

England have lost the opening match in the previous four Six Nations campaign and will be determined to end that sequence by delivering an emphatic victory over the Azzurri.

The teams

Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Federico Mori

England (revised): 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

Date: Saturday, February 3
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15:15 local (14:15 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

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