Cadan Murley, the Harlequins wing, has been named as a shock debutant in England’s starting XV for the Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday.
In the absence of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the uncapped Murley, the Premiership’s top try-scorer in 2022-23, will start on the wing alongside Tommy Freeman with Freddie Steward recalled at full-back owing to George Furbank’s fractured arm.
As revealed by Telegraph Sport on Tuesday morning, the Curry twins, Ben and Tom, will start a Test for England for the first time, named as flankers with Ben Earl reprising his role at No 8. Chandler Cunningham-South and Tom Willis comprise the back-row replacements with Ollie Chessum providing hybrid cover to the second row.
Marcus Smith continues at fly-half with the same centre pairing from the autumn, Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade, while Alex Mitchell has recovered sufficiently from a knee injury to start at scrum-half.
Maro Itoje will become England’s 136th captain when he leads out Steve Borthwick’s side in Dublin on Saturday evening, partnering George Martin in the second row. Ellis Genge is vice-captain with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart joining Genge in the front row.
Among the replacements, where there is a 6:2 split between forwards and backs, there are more eye-opening selections. Joe Heyes is preferred to Asher Opoku-Fordjour while Fin Baxter gets the nod over Bevan Rodd. Harry Randall is the scrum-half replacement with Fin Smith the other back.
England are looking for their first win in Dublin since 2019 having defeated Ireland in last year’s Six Nations, at Twickenham.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of facing the tournament favourites,” said Borthwick.
“We know it’ll be a tough contest against a team that’s very familiar with each other. We’ll need to work tirelessly and maintain our discipline from the first whistle to the last.
“England versus Ireland in Dublin is a huge occasion, and we’ll be ready to face it head-on.”
England team XV to face Ireland
15. Freddie Steward (Steward: I had to change high ball technique)
14. Tommy Freeman
13. Ollie Lawrence
12. Henry Slade
11. Cadan Murley (Rugby needs a combine like NFL)
10. Marcus Smith (Smith: I am a fly-half)
9. Alex Mitchell (Mitchell is England’s most important player)
1. Ellis Genge (vc) (Genge: Why would I leave Bristol?)
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (‘I couldn’t use a knife or fork’)
3. Will Stuart
4. Maro Itoje (c) (Itoje is fulfiling his destiny as England captain)
5. George Martin (‘I saw Tiger Woods’ rehab guru’)
6. Tom Curry (Curry selection shows Borthwick favours speed)
7. Ben Curry
8. Ben Earl (‘I could not sleep for two nights’)
Replacements
16. Theo Dan
17. Fin Baxter
18. Joe Heyes
19. Ollie Chessum
20. Chandler Cunningham-South (‘The other boys did not want to train against him’)
21. Tom Willis
22. Harry Randall
23. Fin Smith (Play Fin Smith at 10 and Marcus Smith at 15)
