England host Italy in Round 2 of Six Nations on Sunday (3pm); Marcus Smith is dropped from side, with Owen Farrell moving to fly-half; centres Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence come in to start; Jack Willis replaces Ben Curry at openside; Tom Curry (hamstring), Courtney Lawes (calf) still out
By Michael Cantillon
Last Updated: 10/02/23 3:00pm
Marcus Smith has been dropped from the England side to face Italy at Twickenham in the Six Nations
Marcus Smith has been dropped to the bench by England head coach Steve Borthwick for Saturday’s Six Nations clash vs Italy, with skipper Owen Farrell moving to fly-half as one of three changes.
To facilitate Farrell’s shift from inside-centre to No 10, Exeter Chiefs centre Henry Slade is brought in to midfield after his recovery from a hip injury, as is Bath’s Ollie Lawrence, with Joe Marchant dropped to the bench.
Among the forwards, Jack Willis is named to start in place of Ben Curry at openside flanker – the latter cut from the England squad earlier in the week, along with Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson.
Willis faces Italy at Twickenham two years on from suffering a serious knee injury in the same fixture, which kept him out of the game for 53 weeks.
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Max Malins, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Ollie Chessum, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 7 Jack Willis, 8 Alex Dombrandt
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Henry Arundell.
More to follow…
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