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Danny Care returns to England starting line-up for Sydney decider

By PA
Danny Care of England passes the ball away during game one of the international test match series between the Australian Wallabies and England at Optus Stadium on July 02, 2022 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)

Danny Care has been restored to England’s starting line-up at the expense of Jack van Poortvliet for Saturday’s decisive third Test against Australia.

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Care started the series opener in Perth a fortnight ago but swapped roles with van Poortvliet for the 25-17 victory in Brisbane that set up the clash at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Making his full debut at Suncorp Stadium, van Poortvliet was outstanding and his demotion to providing scrum-half cover from the bench is a surprise.

Eddie Jones has made two further changes for England’s final game of the season, both enforced by injuries sustained in the second Test.

Ollie Chessum comes in for Maro Itoje in the second row to make his first Test start and Lewis Ludlam replaces Sam Underhill at openside flanker. Both Itoje and Underhill suffered series-ending concussions in Brisbane.

Jack Willis has recovered from a rib injury to be included amongst the replacements and Nick Isiekwe makes his first appearance of the tour on the bench.

England team to play Australia: 

15. Freddie Steward
14. Jack Nowell
13. Guy Porter
12. Owen Farrell
11. Tommy Freeman
10. Marcus Smith
9. Danny Care

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1. Ellis Genge
2. Jamie George
3. Will Stuart
4. Ollie Chessum
5. Jonny Hill
6. Courtney Lawes (C)
7. Lewis Ludlam
8. Billy Vunipola

Finishers

16. Luke Cowan-Dickie
17. Mako Vunipola
18. Joe Heyes
19. Nick Isiekwe
20. Jack Willis
21. Jack van Poortlviet
22. Will Joseph
23. Henry Arundell

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Comments

2 Comments
R
Roy 845 days ago

There is never any logic to an Eddie selection.

No openside flanker, when we have the best player over the ball in Europe, with Jack Willis. Jack van Poortvliet one a stand out player with sharp passing, superb kicking and dangerous around the ruck.

Both not starting.

Freeman and Porter were both quiet, they get picks, Nowel can't beat a player 1 on 1, he is no longer a winger. Er don't need wingers to be good near the ruck, we need them to use the space we create outside....and Arrundel scores with his first touch and can't get a start.

The utter mystery of an Eddie selection. Based on what you can't do, if your face fits or if the pundits are pushing for you to start.

Rubbish

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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