Te’o starts for England in NatWest 6 Nations finale

Te’o named at centre for England

Ben Te’o will start at inside centre when England face champions Ireland in the final game of the NatWest 6 Nations at Twickenham on Saturday (kick-off 2.45pm).

Te’o will win his 13th cap for England as they battle for a second place finish and try to prevent Ireland from claiming the Grand Slam.

Captain Dylan Hartley returns after recovering from injury, with tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler making his first start of the campaign.

Saracens duo George Kruis and Maro Itoje start in the second row, while James Haskell will start at openside flanker with Chris Robshaw moving to the blindside.

Richard Wigglesworth and Owen Farrell will start as the halfback pairing. Ben Te’o moves to inside centre, with Jonathan Joseph recalled at outside centre.

Don Armand is named as a replacement in what is otherwise an experienced bench for England.

England Head Coach Eddie Jones said: “We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and play there. We have had a couple of tough games on the road and to get back and play in front of our 24th man will be exciting for the players and they will be looking forward to putting in a good performance.

“Ireland is a very good team. We have seen in every game the physical contest has been quite enormous so we have to meet that physical challenge and then play smart tactically.”

England
15 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby 32 caps)
14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers 33 caps)
13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby 39 caps)
12 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors 12 caps)
11 Elliot Daly (Wasps 17 caps)
10 Owen Farrell (Saracens 57 caps)
9 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens 30 caps)

1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens 48 caps)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints 92 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins 9 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens 18 caps)
5 George Kruis (Saracens 24 caps)
6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins 63 caps)
7 James Haskell (Wasps 76 caps)
8 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs 6 caps)

Replacements
16 Jamie George (Saracens 24 caps)
17 Joe Marler (Harlequins 55 caps)
18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers 81 caps)
19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps 51 caps)
20 Don Armand (Exeter Chiefs 1 cap)
21 Danny Care (Harlequins 80 caps)
22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers 44 caps)
23 Mike Brown (Harlequins 68 caps)

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