Rugby
Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer 5y

Six Nations: Cokanasiga drops out for Nowell as England make four changes

Rugby, Six Nations

Joe Cokanasiga has been left out of England's matchday squad for the Six Nations showdown against Scotland on Saturday, with Jack Nowell one of four changes to Eddie Jones' side. 

Cokanasiga impressed in England's win over Italy last week but makes way for Nowell, who joins Ben Moon, Mark Wilson and Henry Slade in returning to the starting line-up.

Speaking at a news conference following the team announcement on Thursday, Jones defended his selection and said Cokanasiga, 21, remains a part of England's Rugby World Cup plans.

"Joe's a good, young player and we're looking after him," Jones said. "He'll feature very strongly in our plans for the future, but we just feel this week that Jack Nowell is our best player in that position.

"He's a young player and you need to bring young players through carefully. I've got some reasonable experience doing this.

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"Sometimes you let them go and sometimes you pull them back a bit. We just feel it's right for him this week to not be involved in the match day squad.

He'll still learn from being around the squad and will feature heavily in our warm up games for the World Cup."

Nowell, who started for England against Ireland and Wales, gets the nod on the right wing, while Moon starts at loose-head, Wilson at blindside and Slade at outside centre.

Slade's inclusion means Manu Tuilagi shifts to inside centre while Ellis Genge, Brad Shields and Ben Te'o drop to the bench. Saracens' Ben Spencer is also named among the replacements with Dan Robson missing out due to illness.

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Scotland, meanwhile, make six changes for the trip to Twickenham, with Sean Maitland returning for the injured Blair Kinghorn at fullback and Byron McGuigan replacing Tommy Seymour on the wing. Sam Johnson also returns for his fourth start of the tournament after missing Scotland's defeat to Wales last week. 

Elsewhere, Sam Skinner, Ben Toolis and Hamish Watson are named in the forward pack with Jamie Ritchie, Josh Strauss and Jonny Gray dropping out. Greig Laidlaw is also on the bench for the second week in a row as Ali Price retains his place at scrum-half.

England head into Saturday's game match still very much in with a shout of winning the championship but they will need Wales to slip up at home against holders Ireland in the day's earlier kick off.

England would then need to beat Scotland, who have not won at Twickenham since 1983, to win back the championship they last won in 2017.

England XV:

15. Elliot Daly, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Jonny May, 10. Owen Farrell (c), 9. Ben Youngs; 1. Ben Moon, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. George Kruis, 6. Mark Wilson, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Billy Vunipola

Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Brad Shields, 20. Nathan Hughes, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. George Ford, 23. Ben Te'o

Scotland XV:

15. Sean Maitland, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Nick Grigg, 12. Sam Johnson, 11. Byron McGuigan, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ali Price; 1. Allan Dell, 2. Stuart McInally (c) 3. Willem Nel 4. Ben Toolis, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Sam Skinner, 7. Hamish Watson, 8. Magnus Bradbury

Replacements: 16. Fraser Brown, 17. Gordon Reid, 18. Simon Berghan,19. Jonny Gray, 20. Josh Strauss, 21. Greig Laidlaw, 22. Adam Hastings, 23. Chris Harris

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