England team announcement LIVE: Eddie Jones names squad to face Ireland in Six Nations clash

Follow the latest from Eddie Jones’s press conference as he names his England side amid a number of injury concerns

Eddie Jones makes race-related comment in England press conference

Follow the latest updates live from Eddie Jones’s press conference as he names his England side to face Ireland in the Six Nations this Sunday.

The England boss landed himself in a fresh controversy on Thursday when he made a race-related comment to a reporter during his press conference, which he was later forced to apologise for. The unwanted incident came amid growing pressure on the Australian, whose recent comments were criticised by Irish great Brian O’Driscoll earlier this week.

That furore has overshadowed the team selection this week, but Jones has this morning named a side showing four changes to the one that beat Scotland as Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Joe Marler and Courtney Lawes all return, while Elliot Daly moves to full-back in the absence of the injured George Furbank and Jonathan Joseph shifts to the wing. Jones will speak to the media from 11:45am to talk us through his selections. Follow the live updates below.

When is the match?

England vs Ireland takes place on Sunday 23 February at Twickenham.

What time does it start?

The match kicks off at 3pm GMT.

Key Points

• Eddie Jones names England team to face Ireland
• Jones makes four changes with George Furbank ruled out
• Tuilagi, Youngs, Lawes and Marler return; Joseph named on wing
• England boss will speak to the media from 11:45am
• Jones landed himself in a fresh controversy after jokingly accusing reporter of racism

[21 February 2020 08:33 · Jack de Menezes]

Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Eddie Jones's team announcement and press conference as England prepare for their Six Nations encounter with Ireland this weekend.

The Australian has had to juggle a number of issues this week, not least the one caused by his own doing after appearing to accuse a reporter of racism when asked an innocuous question about meditation. Jones later apologised to the reporter with the RFU issuing a statement to say that the comment was "off-the-cuff", but it comes as the latest controversy surrounding his verbal approach during this Six Nations.

On top of that, England have a number of fitness concerns on their hands - the biggest of which comes in a crisis of sorts at loosehead prop. Mako Vunipola is already unavailable for this weekend's clash as he has flown to Tonga for family reasons, leaving Joe Marler and Ellis Genge to battle it out for the No 1 shirt. However, Bath's Beno Obano was drafted back into the squad on Thursday as injury cover for both, while there are also concerns in the second row and the centre, where both Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade are bidding to return from injury.

Jones will announce his squad at 11am this morning, before speaking to the media 45 minutes later, and hopefully the day will pass without any similar controversies to what we witnessed yesterday. Then again, with Jones you never know what's on the menu.

[21 February 2020 08:40 · Jack de Menezes]

Here's how that controversy yesterday surrounding Eddie Jones's comments unfolded:

[21 February 2020 10:07 · Jack de Menezes]

Early team rumours

There's a suggestion this morning that full-back George Furbank has been assessed on an unknown injury issue, and as a result has been replaced in the side by Elliot Daly, meaning Jonathan Joseph is needed on the wing. That's according to the Daily Mail, who also suggest that the concern at loosehead prop is over Joe Marler.

More as we get it...

[21 February 2020 10:08 · Jack de Menezes]

Early team rumours

There's also a suggestion that Luke Cowan-Dickie could be thrust into the starting line-up to replace Jamie George, although there appears to be less evidence to back that one up at the moment. However, it was understood that George's place in the starting XV was under threat anyway before the last match against Scotland, only for Cowan-Dickie to be ruled out when his partner went into labour.

[21 February 2020 10:24 · Jack de Menezes]

Should we get confirmation that Furbank has been ruled out, it opens the door to yet another head-scratcher for Eddie Jones.

Elliot Daly would be the obvious choice at full-back having played their for the last year and a half of the previous World Cup cycle, but Jones has made it pretty clear that he sees the future of the Saracens back on the wing for the timebeing.

The other option would be Henry Slade, who played at full-back when he came on for England at the World Cup against Tonga, though his only other appearance in the No 15 shirt for his country came way back in 2016 against Argentina.

[21 February 2020 10:32 · Jack de Menezes]

The pressure has built up on Jones this week particularly because Irish great Brian O'Driscoll hit out at the England boss for using "scaremongering" tactics against opponents, particularly in relation to his comments about Johnny Sexton four years ago and the use of "brutal physicality" against the French that backfired so spectacularly.

Here's what the former Ireland skipper had to say:

[21 February 2020 10:49 · Jack de Menezes]

The team is about 10 minutes away from being announced and we know one thing for sure - there's going to be a fair few changes.

Will Tuilagi and Slade both be fit? Who will get the nod at loosehead prop with Mako Vunipola absent? And what's going on with the full-back berth?

[21 February 2020 10:56 · Jack de Menezes]

The team is in and - as expected - we have changes!

Here we go...

[21 February 2020 11:00 · Jack de Menezes]

ENGLAND TEAM VS IRELANDElliot Daly; Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell, Jonathan Joseph; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler; Maro Itoje, George Kruis; Courtney Lawes, Sam Underhill, Tom Curry.

Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Joe Launchbury, Charlie Ewels, Ben Earl, Willi Heinz, Henry Slade.

[21 February 2020 11:08 · Jack de Menezes]

Eddie Jones makes four changes to his starting XV, two of which are forced through absence and injury.

As mentioned this morning, George Furbank has failed a fitness assessment and has been deemed not fit to play, meaning Elliot Daly is needed at full-back as Anthony Watson remains an absentee.

Manu Tuilagi is fit enough to start after recovering from a groin strain, meaning he starts at outside centre alongside captain Owen Farrell, while Henry Slade also returns albeit on the bench.

That means there's a berth on the wing where Jones has decided to go with Jonathan Joseph instead of Ollie Thorley, who for the third week running misses out on the squad completely. It will be Joseph's 50th cap at Twickenham this Sunday, but it will be the first time that Joseph has started on the wing in his international career.

Joe Marler beats Ellis Genge to start at loosehead prop which looks to be a decision based on negating Tadhg Furlong's threat in the scrum, while Courtney Lawes returns at blindside flanker at the expense of Lewis Ludlam, who also misses out completely.

The final change sees Ben Youngs return to scrum-half in favour of Willi Heinz, who drops back to the bench.

Jones has also stuck with a six-two split on the bench as both Joe Launchbury and Charlie Ewels feature, with Ben Earl preferred instead of Ludlam.