Waldrom, a non-playing member of England’s World Cup squad after being called-up as an injury replacement, is named in the Saxons starting XV. He is joined in the line-up by Leicester Tigers teammate Billy Twelvetrees.
Centre Matt Hopper (Harlequins) and half-backs Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby) and Ben Spencer (Saracens) also make their first starts for the Saxons. England Saxons coach Jon Callard includes newcomers Chris Brooker (Harlequins) and Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby) on the bench.
Sale Sharks back-rower James Gaskell will lead a Saxons line-up, which includes senior internationals Delon Armitage (London Irish), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Ugo Monye(Harlequins), Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors) and Paul Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints) in the starting line-up.
“It is a new era for us, there’s a lot of youth and energy in this squad and we’ll go into the game with a ‘no fear’ attitude,” said Callard.
“We want to see the players express themselves and at the same time develop the streak of pragmatism you need to win big games. We’ve seen in Europe the strength of Irish rugby at the moment but the challenge motivates and excites us.”
England Saxons
15 Delon Armitage (London Irish)
14 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
13 Matt Hopper (Harlequins)
12 Billy Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers)
11 Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
10 Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby)
9 Ben Spencer (Saracens)
1 Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors)
2 Joe Gray (Harlequins)
3 Paul Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints)
4 Matt Garvey (London Irish)
5 George Robson (Harlequins)
6 James Gaskell (Sale Sharks, captain)
7 Andy Saull (Saracens)
8 Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers)
Replacements
16 Chris Brooker (Harlequins)
17 Rupert Harden (Gloucester)
18 Kearnan Myall (Sale Sharks)
19 Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
21 Ryan Lamb (Northampton Saints)
22 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
