England confirm Tuilagi replacement against Wales
England have confirmed who will replace Manu Tuilagi in the midfield against Wales today in the Six Nations, bringing in Elliot Daly from the bench.
The Saracen Daly will start at outside centre, with Henry Slade shifting in field to inside centre. Meanwhile, Joe Marchant fills Daly’s space on the bench.
This is the midfield combination that lost to Scotland in the opening round of the Six Nations, where England’s attack looked very blunt at times.
England forwards coach Richard Cockerill did not seem to phased about Tuilagi’s injury going into today’s match, and downplayed the severity of it.
“Manu had a slight hamstring strain at training on Thursday, so he’s left camp and is at home,” Cockerill said.
“It’s not too serious as far as we know and hopefully he’ll be back soon. Manu is in pretty good spirits. Unfortunately this is part of professional sport.
“Manu’s still got a smile on his face and is optimistic that he’ll be back playing for club and country pretty soon.
“On that front it’s pretty positive but obviously we’re disappointed for him personally, and it’s disappointing for the team as he’d have been an important part of the squad.”
Take a look at the squads:
England
1. Ellis Genge, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Charlie Ewels, 5. Maro Itoje, 6. Courtney Lawes (c), 7. Tom Curry, 8. Alex Dombrandt, 9. Harry Randall, 10. Marcus Smith, 11. Jack Nowell, 12. Henry Slade, 13. Elliot Daly, 14. Max Malins, 15. Freddie Steward.
Finishers
16. Jamie George, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Will Stuart, 19. Nick Isiekwe, 20. Sam Simmonds, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. George Ford, 23. Joe Marchant.
Wales
1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ryan Elias, 3. Tomas Francis, 4. Will Rowlands, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Ross Moriarty, 7. Taine Basham, 8. Taulupe Faletau, 9. Tomos Williams, 10. Dan Biggar, 11. Josh Adams, 12. Nick Tompkins, 13. Owen Watkin, 14. Alex Cuthbert, 15. Liam Williams.
Replacements
16. Dewi Lake, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Leon Brown, 19. Seb Davies, 20. Jac Morgan, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Gareth Anscombe, 23. Jonathan Davies.
Our team for #ENGvWAL 🌹@O2 | #WearTheRose pic.twitter.com/CLnDdRJOFW
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 26, 2022
