England head coach Eddie Jones is set to announce his team to face Italy in the Six Nations on Sunday, with a response needed following their opening defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend. Marcus Smith’s 17 points had put England in a winning position before the match turned on Luke Cowan-Dickie’s yellow card and resulting penalty try, and it means Jones and his team are already playing catch-up as they look to bounce back with a victory in Rome.
Jones is set to keep faith with a number of the young and inexperienced players who started against Scotland, including fly-half Smith and full-back Freddie Steward, but the fixture against Italy offers the head coach a chance to make changes. The Italians opened their Six campaign with a defeat to France last weekend in Paris to extend their losing run in the competition to 33 matches and anything other than a bonus-point England victory would be a seismic shock on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Johnny Sexton has been ruled out of Ireland’s trip to France in Saturday’s headline fixture, in what was head coach Andy Farrell’s only change from his side’s opening win over Wales. Scotland flanker Jamie Ritchie has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with a hamstring injury as Gregor Townsend named his team for the visit to Cardiff. Follow for latest Six Nations news as Jones names his England team:
