England coach Eddie Jones has backed Jonathan Joseph to make life tough for Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell after recalling the centre for Saturday’s Six Nations clash at Twickenham.
Outside centre Joseph and scrum-half Danny Care, in for the injured Ben Youngs, are the only two changes to the run-on XV that launched England’s Six Nations title defence with a 46-15 win away to Italy on Sunday – a match where they both starred off the bench. Joseph has changed places with Worcester midfielder Ben Te’o, with his return forecast by Warren Gatland when the Wales coach named his side on Tuesday.
 
‘Gut feeling’
“It’s just my gut feeling,” said Jones at England’s training base in Bagshot, southwest of London, yesterday. “I feel he will start the game well against Wales,” added the Australian, who has won 23 of his 24 Tests in charge of England.
“We were very happy with Benny Te’o last week, he played really well for us. But it’s also his second game back and my experience with players is that their second game back from a long injury is always the most difficult game, so we’ll use him off the bench this week.”
Wales come into this match on the back of thrashing Scotland 34-7 in Cardiff, a match where Patchell impressed in his first Six Nations start following injuries to first-choice Wales fly-halves Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland. But Jones said Joseph’s sheer speed would provide Patchell with a tougher test.
“JJ’s got great experience, he’s fast, a great defensive player,” Jones insisted of the 36-times capped Bath centre. “Every time Rhys Patchell looks up he’s going to see ‘JJ’ in his vision – it’s not a great sight.
“They (Wales) have got to get the ball wide and Patchell hasn’t played much Test match rugby. 
“He’s a young guy, he’s inexperienced and he’s their third-choice 10 (fly-half). He’s got to get the ball wide and that’s going to be a big job for him.”
Jones added: “It’s going to be different to playing against Scotland, Scotland couldn’t cope with the expectation.
“Now he (Patchell) has got to cope with the expectation of playing well. He’s got to find guys around him to help him because he’s going to be under some heat.
Tomorrow’s match will see Care, starting after Youngs suffered a tournament-ending knee injury in Rome, become England’s most capped scrum-half when he makes his 78th Red Rose appearance to move past 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson.
“Danny is more of a running player, which means the kicking duties will be shared a bit more,” said Jones of the Harlequins No 9. Richard Wigglesworth, who plays for Quins’ London rivals Saracens, the European champions, provides bench cover.
“He’s been magnificent mate, truly professional,” said Jones of Wigglesworth. “He’s 34, trains like a 24-year-old, speaks like a 55-year-old – a great addition to the squad.”
Spectators at Twickenham have have often been accused of lacking the passion commonplace at other Six Nations venues but former Australia and Japan coach Jones expects a capacity crowd to be roaring England on this weekend.
“The 82,000 it’s like our 24th man,” he said. “They are going to be full of energy, full of passion and it’s going to be a great Saturday.” 
Wales have had an extra day of preparation for this match – they played Scotland last Saturday and England faced Italy on Sunday – but Jones said: “We’ve had 18 months to prepare for this turnaround (since knowing the date of the fixture). 
“Is that difficult? It’s difficult, if you haven’t used your 18 months well. We’ve used our 18 months well.”

Steyn starts against Irish, no ‘homecoming’ for McKinley
Italy’s South Africa-born flanker Braam Steyn will start against Ireland in their Six Nations clash in Dublin tomorrow, one of three changes made by head coach Conor O’Shea to the side beaten 46-15 by champions England. 
Steyn, 25, replaces Renato Giammarioli and wins his 18th cap for his adopted country, whilst hooker Luca Bigi is in for Leonardo Ghiraldini and prop Nicola Quaglio promoted at the expense of Andrea Lovotti. However, O’Shea - whose side put up a decent show against England before leaking points in the final quarter - resisted the urge to select fellow Irishman and fly-half Ian McKinley. Tommaso Allan retains his place at fly-half in the starting XV and Carlo Canna is the option on the replacements bench. O’Shea said that McKinley, who is blind in his left eye, wouldn’t have wanted to be picked simply because it was a good story and a return to not only the country of his birth but also his home province Leinster. 
“He was disappointed because he wants to play, that’s the bottom line,” O’Shea told reporters. Ian’s a rugby player, he’s not a romantic story. Ian wants to be picked because he is the number one rugby player and has the right to be in this team at the time, not because he’s a story. “Sport is full of romance but the hard-nosed side of it is that at the moment, Tommy Allan had the jersey last week and was outstanding, and Carlo Canna is one of the top points scorers in Pro14 rugby and an exciting attacking talent who brings a different skillset.

Laidlaw back as Scotland make six changes
Greig Laidlaw will return to Scotland’s starting lineup for Sunday’s Six Nations tie against France after coach Gregor Townsend made six changes to the side thrashed by Wales last week.
Townsend made three changes in the pack and three in the backline for the clash at Murrayfield after a meek performance in Cardiff, where Scotland were beaten 34-7 in their first game of this year’s competition.
British and Irish Lion Laidlaw, who suffered a leg fracture in October, will make his first start since the corresponding fixture in Paris last March, having been on the bench last week.
He reunites with flyhalf Finn Russell in a potentially exciting partnership. Tighthead prop Simon Berghan returns after serving a six-week suspension in a front row that has been beset by injury problems with Jon Welsh dropping to the bench.
Grant Gilchrist replaces Ben Toolis at lock and Ryan Wilson comes in for Cornell du Preez at the back of the scrum. Sean Maitland was chosen at wing to replace Byron McGuigan, who suffered a hamstring injury in the Cardiff encounter, and Pete Horne, who scored Scotland’s only try in the match, takes the place of Chris Harris at inside centre.
“We are looking forward to putting in a performance that can energise our supporters,” said Townsend.
“To do that we need to out-work the opposition and be more accurate in a number of aspects of our play.
“We’ve seen a response from the players in training this week and that needs to continue into and through the 80-plus minutes of the match because France will pose a massive and immensely-physical challenge.”
Scotland, who were easily blown away by Wales, had been hoping to continue their good form from November’s internationals where they scored a half century of points against Australia and came close to upsetting world champions New Zealand.


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