Thursday 15 March 2018 21:38, UK
Eddie Jones has made seven changes to his England side for Ireland's visit to Twickenham in the final round of the 2018 Six Nations on Saturday.
Owen Farrell will start at fly-half, as George Ford drops to the bench and Jonathan Joseph comes in to partner Ben Te'o in midfield - Te'o shifting to inside-centre.
Alongside Farrell in the halfbacks will be Saracens team-mate Richard Wigglesworth, who makes his first start for England since August 2015 in place of Danny Care.
In the forwards, skipper Dylan Hartley has returned at hooker following his calf injury in place of Jamie George, while Kyle Sinckler and George Kruis replace dropped pair Dan Cole and Joe Launchbury.
The backrow was always going to be an area of major change after serious knee injuries to Courtney Lawes and Nathan Hughes last week, and it sees James Haskell come in on the openside, Chris Robshaw make the positional switch to blindside, and Exeter's Sam Simmonds start at No 8.
On the bench, Chiefs backrow Don Armand is named, as is full-back Mike Brown, who fails to win his place back after Elliot Daly was declared fit.
"We can't wait to get back to Twickenham and play there," head coach Jones said. "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 are 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, 14 Jonny May, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ben Te'o, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 James Haskell, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Don Armand, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Mike Brown.
