England coach Eddie Jones has surprised everybody by leaving out Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje from his matchday 23 to face Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday.
After going back on his word yesterday everyone was expecting a full strength England team would be picked, but the crafty Aussie surprised everyone by resting to of his main stars. And with Australia the opponents next week, we wonder if he intends to rest his biggest stars for the whole Autumn International tour.
Jones surprised a few people by resting Itoje and Farrell
In the starting line-up are Henry Slade and Sam Underhill. Centre Slade and flanker Underhill both toured Argentina and started England’s last Test against the Pumas in June. So Eddie believes they deserve another shot for the first Autumn International at Twickenham.
Elliot Daly will start on the left wing just a fortnight after suffering a medial knee ligament tear, but Jonny May, who hasn’t recovered from his hamstring injury in time, misses out.
Itoje is a shock exclusion from the line up
Eddie Jones is sticking with his captain and hooker Dylan Hartley, which means its only a place on the bench for his deputy Jamie George. The young hooker impressed massively on the Lions tour, but Jones believes he still has a lot to learn, and deputising his captain, is the best way to do it.
The exclusion of Itoje and Farrell is not thought to be a tactical one, as they’re usually the first names on the team sheet. So, resting his star players in probably what he thinks is a game England should win is another excellent move by Jones.
Henry Slade has been retained after impressing in Argentina in June
The England coach didn’t adhere to my opinion, however, when he stated, “This is our best 23 selected in what is our most important game this year. We know that Argentina is a strong team – Rugby World Cup semi-finalists in 2015 – and we will have to be smart and play well to beat them.”
No doubt Argentina throw up a tricky opposition. They were semi-finalists at the RWC in 2015, and have beaten Australia and South Africa regularly in the Rugby Championship. But England are a class above the Wallabies and Springboks at the moment. They also toured and beat Argentina in their back yard with a British & Irish Lions depleted team.
Another tough encounter for England at the hands of Los Pumas
Prediction: A highly entertaining game with two teams trying to improve their swagger. It will be a tight first half, but England’s class will eventually shine through. England will out-try their opponents 5-2 and win by 20 points.
England:
- Mako Vunipola
- Dylan Hartley (captain)
- Dan Cole
- Courtney Lawes
- George Kruis
- Chris Robshaw
- Sam Underhill
- Nathan Hughes.
- Ben Youngs
- George Ford
- Elliot Daly
- Henry Slade
- Jonathan Joseph
- Anthony Watson
- Mike Brown
Replacements:
- Jamie George
- Ellis Genge
- Harry Williams
- Joe Launchbury
- Tom Curry
- Danny Care
- Alex Lozowski
- Semesa Rokoduguni.
Image Sources:
www.bathchronicle.co.uk
www.365dm.com
www.telegraph.co.uk
www.autumn-internationals.co.uk
www.express.co.uk
www.th42.ie
