England team to face Ireland in Six Nations

England head coach Eddie Jones

England have dropped George Ford and moved Owen Farrell to fly-half for their Six Nations clash with Ireland at Twickenham.

Dylan Hartley has recovered from a tight calf to lead the team in Saturday's final round of the Championship, but his front row colleague Dan Cole has been replaced by Kyle Sinckler.

Eddie Jones has performed significant surgery on the team that lost 22-16 to France, with Danny Care and Joe Launchbury making way for Richard Wigglesworth and George Kruis.

Anthony Watson retains his place at full-back with Mike Brown confined to the bench for another week.

There is a new-look midfield partnership of Ben Te'o and Jonathan Joseph, who returns at outside centre, and Elliot Daly has recovered from his foot problem to start on the left wing.

Injuries to Nathan Hughes and Courtney Lawes see Sam Simmonds and James Haskell start at number eight and openside flanker.

Eddie Jones issued an apology on Wednesday night after footage emerged of the England head coach describing Ireland as "the scummy Irish" and Wales as a "little s*** country" during a talk on leadership given last year.

Speaking publicly on the matter for the first time on Thursday, Jones said: "I apologise for the remarks.

"I sincerely mean that and I really don't have anything else to say on the matter. I'm happy to answer questions on the game coming up, but the other matter is dead."

When pressed on his remarks, Jones said: "I've made a statement, I don't have to say anything else on it."

Victory at Twickenham on Saturday for Ireland would secure the Grand Slam for the team who were crowned champions after England's defeat in Paris.

"Ireland are going for a Grand Slam, I don't think they need any extra motivation," Jones said.

Assessing his team selection, Jones said: "We just felt we needed to make some changes for this game. We need to get on the front foot against Ireland and we've selected a team to do that. It's good to have Dylan back from injury, he trained superbly yesterday.

"We've gone for an Farrell-Te'o-Joseph midfield, and we're sure they can get us on the front foot."

England team to play Ireland

FORWARDS: 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens), 2 Dylan Hartley (CAPTAIN, Northampton Saints), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens), 5 George Kruis (Saracens), 6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), 7 James Haskell (Wasps), 8 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)

BACKS: 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens), 11 Elliot Daly (Wasps), 12 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), 13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), 14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), 15 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Jamie George (Saracens), 17 Joe Marler (Harlequins), 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), 19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps), 20 Don Armand (Exeter Chiefs), 21 Danny Care (Harlequins), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers), 23 Mike Brown (Harlequins)

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