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Rugby News

Genge to make first Twickenham start for England

Ellis Genge will make his first start at Twickenham for England when they take on Samoa on Saturday (KO 3pm live on Sky Sports).

Genge is one of five Leicester Tigers players included in the matchday squad for the final Test of the Old Mutual Wealth Series.

He replaces Mako Vunipola in one of nine changes made by head coach Eddie Jones  to the starting line-up that beat Australia last weekend.

Genge lines up in the front row alongside his Tigers teammate Dan Cole, who will win his 77th cap for England, and Jamie George, who replaces Dylan Hartley to make his first start on his 20th appearance. Hartley moves to the bench.

It will be Cole’s 74th starting appearance, which puts him fifth on England’s all-time list behind Jason Leonard (102 starts), Rory Underwood (85), Martin Johnson (82) and Jonny Wilkinson (79).

George Ford has been named co-captain with Chris Robshaw. It will be the first time Ford has captained England in a Test match, after being co-captain alongside Robshaw in the non-capped game against the Barbarians in May.

Robshaw moves to open side with Maro Itoje starting at blind side. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs) will make his first start for England at number 8 in the absence of Nathan Hughes.

Tigers winger Jonny May retains his place after scoring his 10th England try in last weekend’s 30-6 win against Australia. Danny Care (Harlequins) will start his first Test of the series with Tigers scrum-half Ben Youngs set to win his 73rd cap from the bench.

Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby) will start Joe Launchbury in the second row.  Alex Lozowski and Henry Slade form the centre combination with Mike Brown returning to the starting 15 after missing the Australia Test due to injury.

England head coach Jones said: “This is an exciting squad to play against Samoa and we are expecting them to be immensely physical and committed this weekend.

“We want to follow up last week’s performance against Australia and play better again this week. Our intent in every game and every training session is to be better.

“This week it is an opportunity for some squad members who haven’t been playing to put their best foot forward. We will have to play smart and will need to find ways to win the contest against Samoa.”

The game will be shown as live in the bars around Welford Road after full-time in Tigers' Aviva Premiership clash with Worcester Warriors on Saturday. Match tickets are on general sale.

England team to play Samoa
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins 63 caps)
14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers 28 caps)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs 9 caps)
12 Alex Lozowski (Saracens 3 caps)
11 Elliot Daly (Wasps 15 caps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers 39 caps) co-captain
9 Danny Care (Harlequins 75 caps)
 1 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers 4 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens 19 caps)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers 76 caps)
4 Joe Launchbury (Wasps 46 caps)
5 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby 5 caps)
6 Maro Itoje (Saracens 13 caps)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins 58 caps) co-captain
8 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs 2 caps)
 
Replacements
16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints 88 caps)
17 Joe Marler (Harlequins 52 caps)
18 Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs 4 caps)
19 Nick Isiekwe (Saracens 1 cap)
20 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints 60 caps)
21 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers 72 caps)
22 Piers Francis (Northampton Saints 2 caps)
23 Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby 3 caps)

Samoa: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Paul Perez ,13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 David Lemi, 10 Tim Nanai-Williams, 9 Dwayne Polataivao; 1 Jordan Lay, 2 Motu Matu'u, 3 Donald Brighouse, 4 Josh Tyrell, 5 Chris Vui (Captain), 6 Piula Faasalele, 7 TJ Ioane, 8 Jack Lam Replacements 16 Manu Leiataua, 17 James Lay, 18 Hisa Sasagi, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 Rey Lee-Lo, 23 JJ Taulagi