Rob Webber captains England in Sunday’s game against the Barbarians at Twickenham. He will lead out a very youthful side which has nine players aged 24 or under in the starting XV and sees Matt Kvesic and Marland Yarde make their débuts along with Christian Wade.
Six of the eight players on the bench could also make their first senior appearances in the non-cap game.
England head coach Stuart Lancaster said .”This is a great opportunity for these players to step up.” “Taking on a very experienced Barbarians team is the first challenge they face this summer with matches in Uruguay and Argentina to follow and this sequence of games is a key part of our development as a team.” “Webber finished the season strongly with Bath and I know his leadership qualities well. I am sure he’ll show the way backed up by the other senior players in the team.”
England are shorn of their British and Irish Lions contingent plus those from Leicester and Northampton, who play the Aviva Premiership final on Saturday.
Webber, has played just three game for England and will be helped in the front row by Bath team-mate David Wilson who is the most capped player in the side with 26 appearances. London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero, Gloucester’s number eight Ben Morgan and Exeter’s Tom Johnson are all included after recovering from injury.
Freddie Burns, starts at fly-half with Richard Wigglesworth at scrum-half. and Billy Twelvetrees is at inside centre alongside Jonathan Joseph whilst Mike Brown returns to his preferred position at full-back.
After playing the Barbarians England embark on a three-match tour, which starts in Uruguay against a combined South American XV and then head to Argentina for two Tests.
We are expecting that both sides will try and run the ball hoping the weather stays dry for them.
Teams
England: Mike Brown; Christian Wade, Jonathan Joseph, Billy Twelvetrees, Marland Yarde; Freddie Burns, Richard Wigglesworth; Ben Morgan, Matt Kvesic, Tom Johnson; Dave Attwood, Joe Launchbury; David Wilson, Rob Webber, Alex Corbisiero
Replacements: David Paice, Joe Marler, Henry Thomas, Kearnan Myall, Billy Vunipola, Haydn Thomas, Jonny May, Kyle Eastmond
Barbarians: Elliot Daly (London Wasps); Timoci Nagusa (Montpellier, Fiji), Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz, United States), Casey Laulala (Munster, New Zealand), Mike Tindall (Gloucester, England); James Hook (Perpignan, Wales), Dwayne Peel (Sale, Wales); Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro 92, Italy), Matthew Rees (Scarlets, Wales), James Johnston (Harlequins, Samoa), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester, Scotland), Marco Wentzel (London Wasps, South Africa), Alessandro Zanni (Treviso, Italy), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz, France), Jonathan Poff (London Wasps, New Zealand).
Replacements: Schalk Brits (Saracens, South Africa), Dean Mumm (Exeter, Australia), Duncan Jones (Ospreys, Wales), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz, France), Nick Evans (Harlequins, New Zealand), Rowan Varty (DeA Tigers, Hong Kong).