Jones names England team to face Italy

11 Feb 2022 | 3 min |

Jones names England team to face Italy

Eddie Jones has named his England team to face Italy in the Guinness Six Nations this weekend.

England travel to Rome to take on Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday 13 February (3pm KO).

Tom Curry will continue to captain the side. Jamie George and Will Stuart start in the front row, alongside Ellis Genge at loose-head prop. Charlie Ewels and Nick Isiekwe are named at lock. Maro Itoje moves to blind-side flanker and Alex Dombrandt is at No. 8.

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Harry Randall will start at scrum half, Marcus Smith is at fly half with Jack Nowell (left) and Max Malins (right) on the wings. Joe Marchant is at outside centre, Henry Slade is at inside centre and Freddie Steward is full back.

Ben Youngs could become the joint most-capped England men’s player of all time, alongside Jason Leonard, after being named as a finisher. Youngs made his debut against Scotland in March 2010 and is in line to add to his 113 caps on Sunday.

Ollie Chessum could also make his England debut this weekend, and is joined by Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Marler, Kyle Sinckler, Sam Simmonds, George Ford and Elliot Daly on the bench. Genge, Slade and Cowan-Dickie are also named as vice captains.

"We’ve set ourselves the target of playing really well and lighting up Rome," said head coach Jones. "We’ve made some changes and this is the best side to face Italy. We want to start fast and take the game to them.

"They can be a dangerous team and have some very good players in the likes of Garbisi, Negri and Lamaro.

"It’s been a difficult week, but the players have bounced back well, trained hard and are ready to put on a good performance on Sunday."