England vs Ireland team news: Owen Farrell and George Ford reunited as Manu Tuilagi starts Rugby World Cup warm-up

Eddie Jones makes sweeping changes for England’s third World Cup warm-up clash as a number of key players return from injury

George Ford and Owen Farrell will be reunited in the starting line-up for England’s third Rugby World Cup warm-up clash with Ireland this Saturday after being selected at fly-half and inside centre together for the first time in 14 months, in what is a heavily changed side selection by Eddie Jones.

The pair have not started together since the second Test defeat against South Africa last summer, where England slipped to a 23-12 defeat that prompted the recall for Danny Cipriani to partner Farrell in the triumphant third Test.

Having been left out of the starting line-up for the opening two Tests against Wales, Farrell returns to the side albeit in the No 12 shirt, where he will partner Manu Tuilagi in the centre from the start for the first time in their careers.

Joe Marler wins his first start since returning from international retirement, having featured off the bench in last weekend’s defeat in Wales, while Mako Vunipola returns from hamstring surgery to feature among the replacements.

There are first starts of the summer for hooker Jamie George, prop Kyle Sinckler and scrum-half Ben Youngs along with Farrell and Tuilagi, while the back-row sees flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill return from injury to feature. The pair were due to start the opening match against Wales only for a toe injury to rule Underhill out and force Curry back to his natural openside berth, where a shoulder knock ending his match after just 28 minutes.

Billy Vunipola, Joe Cokanasiga, Billy Vunipola and Ford all start their third consecutive match, while Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and uncapped Ruaridh McConnochie were all not considered for selection due to ongoing injuries.

“The players have come back in a very good physical and mental state and we have had a good preparation this week. We purposefully made the week short looking ahead to the World Cup where this might happen beyond our control," Jones said.

“It is the third of four games for us and come the 8th of September, when we get on the plane, we want to be ready to go. This is another step forward for us.

“This weekend we will be looking to gain more game fitness and testing different sorts of game strategies. We have a specific way of how we want to play and the focus is very much on ourselves.”

England: Elliot Daly; Joe Cokanasiga, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell, Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler; Maro Itoje, George Kruis; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes, Mark Wilson, Willi Heinz, Piers Francis, Jonathan Joseph.