Northampton Saints stars Courtney Lawes and Dan Biggar are set to go toe-to-toe at Twickenham on Saturday, as England face Wales in the Six Nations.
Lawes, the Red Rose’s man-of-the-match in their last clash against Ireland, is named by Eddie Jones in the back row at blindside flanker to win his 85th cap.
Meanwhile Biggar has shaken off the knee injury he picked up in Northampton’s last match against Saracens at Franklin’s Gardens to start for Wales in the No.10 jersey.
“We’ve had a really good two-week preparation,” said England head coach Jones. “Wales are a very tough, well-coached side and they’ve been building on their attack since Wayne Pivac has taken over.
“It’s always a tough game against Wales and we know they will bring that toughness to all the contest areas.
“We’re looking forward to playing at home again and getting back out in front of our fantastic fans.”
Pivac added: “We’ve had a good two weeks and we are really excited about heading up to Twickenham for what will be a huge Six Nations clash.
“We have had the chance to put the disappointments of the loss to France behind us and we know heading to London we need to be more clinical in attack and convert the opportunities that we are creating.”
England team to play Wales
15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 42 caps)
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 42 caps)
13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 42 caps)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 82 caps) C
11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 55 caps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 68 caps)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 98 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 70 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 48 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 34 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 37 caps)
5 George Kruis (Saracens, 44 caps)
6 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 84 caps)
7 Mark Wilson (Sale Sharks, 18 caps)
8 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 22 caps)
Replacements:
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 23 caps)
17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
18 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 2 caps)
19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 64 caps)
20 Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 14 caps)
21 Ben Earl (Saracens, 2 caps)
22 Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, 12 caps)
23 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 28 caps)
Wales team to play England
15 Leigh Halfpenny (88 Caps)
14 George North (94 Caps)
13 Nick Tompkins (3 Caps)
12 Hadleigh Parkes (28 Caps)
11 Liam Williams (62 Caps)
10 Dan Biggar (82 Caps)
9 Tomos Williams (19 Caps)
1 Rob Evans (38 Caps)
2 Ken Owens (65 Caps)
3 Dillon Lewis (25 Caps)
4 Jake Ball (45 Caps)
5 Alun Wyn Jones (C) (137 Caps)
6 Ross Moriarty (44 Caps)
7 Justin Tipuric (75 Caps)
8 Josh Navidi (23 Caps)
Replacements:
16 Ryan Elias (12 Caps)
17 Rhys Carre (7 Caps)
18 Leon Brown (9 Caps)
19 Aaron Shingler (26 Caps)
20 Taulupe Faletau (75 Caps)
21 Rhys Webb (32 Caps)
22 Jarrod Evans (6 Caps)
23 Johnny McNicholl (3 Caps)
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