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Henry Pollock starts his first international game today, and Rob Kitson has thoughts on it.
And the dropping altogether of Sam Prendergast is given some historical context here here by Brendan Fanning
You can send me all your thoughts on proceedings both prior to an during the match via the email. I look forward to reading them.
Team news
Changes galore, and notable ones at that, across both matchday squads.
Steve Borthwick hands fan and media darling (and bloody good player) Henry Pollock his first start in the back row, where he will be joined by the returning Tom Curry. In the backs Tommy Freeman returns to a wing berth at the expense of Tom Roebuck, which brings Ollie Lawrence back into the centres. The bench is a 6:2, with Jack Van Poortvliet and Marcus Smith as the backs options.
For Ireland, Andy Farrell has decided his favourite child Sam Prendergast is not for this fixture and is left out of a matchday squad for the first time since his debut in November 2024. Whatever your opinion of his abilities, this must be incredibly tough for the young bloke. Jack Crowley returns to the starting 10 shirt and he will line up alongside Jamison Gibson-Park to marshall a backline that retains Rob Balacoune and James Lowe on the wings. Josh Van Der Flier is back at openside, and a late injury to Jack Conan promoted Cian Prendergast to a 5:3 bench that has Ciaran Frawley as out-half cover.
Teams
England
Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Henry Arundell; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan‑Dickie, Joe Heyes; Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum; Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Henry Pollock.
Replacements: Jamie George, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith.
Ireland
Jamie Osborne; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson‑Park; Jeremy Loughman, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Tom O’Toole, Finlay Bealham, Nick Timoney, Cian Prendergast, Craig Casey, Ciaran Frawley, Tommy O’Brien.
Preamble
“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” were the parting words of John Lydon at the last ever Sex Pistols gig in 1977, before the lead singer moved on to his long fermentation into a middle England MAGA muppet. Fans of both these teams may be asking themselves some version of the same question.
England’s crowd must wonder what is the reality of their side. Are they the team of twelve undefeated matches and months and the growing confidence it brought, or that which looked so very second best at Murrayfield last week?
And what are Ireland’s followers to make of a head coach that delivered their finest moments, but appears to have either no discernible plan for how his side transitions into a newer era, nor a countenance that suggests he’s relaxed about it. Is Andy Farrell as great as previously thought when he can’t even be coherent about who should play 10?
With teams both taking the field today on the same record of played two, lost one in the tournament, a win today is a practical requirement to move towards a preferable finishing position in mid March. Wider than that there is some drifting to be arrested. England need to consign the loss to Scotland into the “blip” column, while Ireland must regulate their move towards dropping out of the top five in the world rankings via a performance that demonstrates this is not as inevitable as it feels after two rounds.
Come the end, nobody may actually feel cheated, but someone will definitely feel defeated. Find out who with me over the next few hours.
