England XV vs Ireland: Manu Tuilagi returns as Eddie Jones makes four changes
England have made four changes to their starting XV to face Ireland on Sunday with Manu Tuilagi returning and Elliot Daly moving back to full-back.
Eddie Jones was forced into a late shuffle with Daly returning to the No15 jersey because the young full-back George Furbank, who started the first two games of the Championship, is not fit.
That sees Jonathan Joseph move from outside centre to the left wing in a major backline reshuffle. This is Joseph’s 50th cap, and first start on the wing.
Ben Youngs also returns at scrum-half in place of Willi Heinz, who is on the bench.
There are two changes to the pack too, with Courtney Lawes selected at blindside flanker (as he was in the opening defeat to France) over his Northampton team-mate Lewis Ludlam, who does not make the matchday 23.
On Tuesday, the RFU revealed that Mako Vunipola would not play because he has returned to Tonga to attend to a family issue. Joe Marler replaces him, with Ellis Genge – who scored the winning try against Scotland – remaining on the bench.
Jones, as he did in the win over Scotland two weeks ago, named a 6-2 bench. There are two locks, Joe Launchbury and Charlie Ewels, while Ben Earl beats Ludlam to a back-row spot.
Luke Cowan-Dickie, who missed the Scotland game because his partner was giving birth to their first child, returns to the bench.
As does his club-mate Henry Slade, who will make his first appearance of 2020 after recovering from a broken ankle if he makes it onto the field. The uncapped Gloucester wing Ollie Thorley is left out for the third straight game.
By contrast, Ireland have had the luxury of naming an unchanged XV two days ago, and Jones heaped praise on them.
“Ireland are a very good team, extremely well-coached,” said Jones. "They are a team we respect a lot. They will bring their usual physicality and under Andy Farrell they’ve opened up their game a little bit.
“They are a tactically smart team. [Conor] Murray and [Johnny] Sexton, who have played 170 Tests between them, at nine and 10 will manage the game well. We’ve got to make sure we match their physicality and their emotion on the weekend.
“We trained at Twickenham Stadium in front of 10,000 fans last Friday and we can’t wait to get back out there in front of 80,000 people on Sunday.”
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