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England change two of their starting pack to face Wales
By
Liam Heagney
Eddie Jones has made two changes to his England team to play Wales on Saturday in Cardiff in round three of the Guinness Six Nations following their February 13 41-18 home win over Italy in London. Both switches come in the pack with Jamie George and Mark Wilson retaking the starting places they respectively lost to Luke Cowan-Dickie and Courtney Lawes for the match against the Italians after they had started in the loss to Scotland.
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Cowan-Dickie drops to the bench but Lawes is excluded altogether after he sustained a training ground injury on Wednesday afternoon. The only other change in the matchday 23 sees uncapped 19-year-old George Martin chosen as a replacement following the serious knee injury suffered by Jack Willis when he played off the bench versus Italy.
Elliot Daly, meanwhile, is set to make his 50th appearance for England having debuted in February 2016 in a 21-10 victory over Ireland. England boss Jones said: “Wales is a really special fixture and rivalry. There is a long history between the two nations and the game means a lot to both countries.
“We know we will be up against a strong Welsh challenge on Saturday, but we have worked really hard in training this week and have got a very good team to face it.
“We want to show people what we are capable of, keep building our performances and the best is yet to come from this England team.”
Things have turned spicy ahead of England's trip to Wales#SixNations #WALvENG
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ENGLAND (vs Wales, Saturday)
15. Elliot Daly (Saracens, 49 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 48 caps)
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 36 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 90 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 63 caps)
10. George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 74 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 106 caps)
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 64 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 56 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 41 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 45 caps)
5. Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 6 caps)
6. Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 20 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 30 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 58 caps)
FINISHERS
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 28 caps)
17. Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 25 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
19. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 18 caps)
20. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
21. Ben Earl (Bristol Bears, 10 caps)
22. Dan Robson (Wasps, 9 caps)
23. Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 5 caps)
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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 25, 2021
