England have named a fresh looking squad to face Scotland at Murrayfield in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations 2012 opening fixture, the Calcutta Cup.
The starting lineup contains a bold selection of three new caps: centre pairing Brad Barrit and Owen Farrell of Saracens, in addition to No. 8 Phil Dowson of Northampton Saints.
A further five uncapped players make the list of substitutes in the newest looking England RBS 6 Nations squad for many a season. Those players are Rob Webber (London Wasps), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) and Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins).
England’s Head Coach, Stuart Lancaster, said of the selection:
“We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field.”
“Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge – Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations – but one we are relishing.”
England Starting XV v Scotland – RBS 6 Nations 2012
- 15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
- 14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
- 13 Brad Barritt (Saracens)*
- 12 Owen Farrell (Saracens)*
- 11 David Strettle (Saracens)
- 10 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
- 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
- 1 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
- 2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
- 3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
- 4 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
- 5 Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
- 6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
- 7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt)
- 8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)*
Replacements
- 16 Rob Webber (London Wasps)*
- 17 Matt Stevens (Saracens)
- 18 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)*
- 19 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)*
- 20 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)*
- 21 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)*
- 22 Mike Brown (Harlequins)
* Denoted uncapped player.
Scotland v England will kick-off at 17:00 GMT (18:00 CET) on Saturday 4th February 2012 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland.
