Curry returns - England name team to play Samoa
England head coach Steve Borthwick has named his 23-man squad to face Samoa at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Pool D in Lille on Saturday, 7 October.
Tom Curry has returned from suspension to join England's back-row as head coach Steve Borthwick names his 23-man match-day squad to face Samoa at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Pool D in Lille on Saturday, 7 October.
1 Ellis Genge
2 Jamie George
3 Dan Cole
4 Maro Itoje
5 Ollie Chessum
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Tom Curry
8 Ben Earl
9 Alex Mitchell
10 George Ford
11 Jonny May
12 Owen Farrell (c)
13 Manu Tuilagi
14 Joe Marchant
15 Freddie Steward
Replacements
16 Theo Dan
17 Joe Marler
18 Kyle Sinckler
19 George Martin
20 Billy Vunipola
21 Danny Care
22 Marcus Smith
23 Ollie Lawrence
- England head coach Steve Borthwick has named 13 of the 15 starting XV from their opening round win against Argentina, with only Jonny May and captain Owen Farrell the change from that side.
- Borthwick has named the same starting front-row of Ellis Genge, Jamie George and Dan Cole from England’s 48-14 victory over Samoa in 2017.
- Captain Owen Farrell requires two more points to become England’s all-time leading point-scorer, and end Jonny Wilkinson’s 22-year reign.
- Tom Curry will return from his two-match suspension to earn his 49th test cap. He has played just three minutes at RWC 2023.
- Jonny May is the only player in this match-day team who has scored a test try against Samoa, but he has not crossed since 2014 after two tries at Twickenham.
- George Ford is averaging 13.7 points per game at RWC 2023 after coming into the tournament averaging 4.3 across his first four tests this year. He has scored 13 points in each of his past two tests against Samoa, making his starting debut against them in 2014, and named as co-captain alongside Chris Robshaw against them in 2017.