Farrell & Barritt pair up for new England

Published: Thursday, 2. February, 2012 in category Six Nations

England on Thursday named three new caps in the starting team to face Scotland in Saturday's Six Nations match at Murrayfield.

Saracens midfielder Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell will form a new centre pairing at international level, while Northampton Saints' Phil Dowson makes his debut at No.8.

The match 22 sees five more uncapped players on the replacements' bench - Rob Webber (London Wasps), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) and Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins).

Head coach Stuart Lancaster said: "We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field.

"Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge – Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations – but one we are relishing."

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ben Morgan, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Jordan Turner-Hall, 22 Mike Brown.

Date: Saturday, February 4
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Tony Redmond (Ireland)