England name team for Six Nations opener against Wales

Henry Arundell will make his first England start since the 2023 World Cup after being named on the left wing for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations opener against Wales.

Arundell featured against Argentina in the bronze final two-and-a-half-years ago but became unavailable when he signed for French club Racing 92 and the 23-year-old Bath flyer only made his Test comeback as a replacement against Fiji in the autumn.

England will be led into the Allianz Stadium showdown by Jamie George with regular captain Maro Itoje, who has been grieving the death of his mother Florence, present on the bench. Itoje will take over as skipper when he steps on to the field.

Arundell injects pace into the backline and profits from the toe injury sustained by Tom Roebuck that has kept him sidelined since New Zealand were dispatched in November.

Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman form the centres with head coach Steve Borthwick turning to a familiar combination after the Northampton team-mates were also paired together for last year’s emphatic victories over Wales and Australia.

It means Dingwall has held off the challenge of Max Ojomoh and Seb Atkinson in the competitive three-way race for the number 12 jersey.

Alex Mitchell and George Ford will direct operations at half-back with Freddie Steward and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso completing the backline.

Itoje’s omission from the starting XV sees Alex Coles and Ollie Chessum pack down in the second row and Sam Underhill continues at openside with Tom Curry continuing in the ‘Bomb Squad’ role he performed in the autumn.

Borthwick has loaded his bench with six forwards once again and has turned to the more experienced Bevan Rodd and Trevor Davison to fill the gaps created by the injury crisis at prop with Will Stuart, Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour missing the entire Six Nations.

Ben Spencer and Marcus Smith are the only backs among the replacements with Smith providing full-back as well as fly-half cover.

Wales are searching for their first Six Nations victory since 2023 and Borthwick believes their kicking game will be their main weapon at Twickenham.

“England versus Wales is always a special occasion in the rugby calendar. It’s a fierce rivalry with a long history and one that brings a huge challenge every time we meet,” Borthwick said.

“We expect Wales to bring a kicking game, so we’ll need to be accurate in how we respond to that challenge.

“For us, our focus is on executing our game plan and maintaining discipline throughout the match.

“We’re excited to get the Championship under way at a packed-out Allianz Stadium. The support we receive at home is outstanding and always gives the players a huge lift.”

England team: F Steward (Leicester Tigers); I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), T Freeman (Northampton Saints), F Dingwall (Northampton Saints), H Arundell (Bath Rugby); G Ford (Sale Sharks), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints); E Genge (Bristol Bears), J George (Saracens, capt), J Heyes (Leicester Tigers), A Coles (Northampton Saints), O Chessum (Leicester Tigers), G Pepper (Bath Rugby), S Underhill (Bath Rugby), B Earl (Saracens).

Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), B Rodd (Sale Sharks), T Davison (Northampton Saints), M Itoje (Saracens), T Curry (Sale Sharks), H Pollock (Northampton Saints), B Spencer (Bath Rugby), M Smith (Harlequins).