London: England coach Stuart Lancaster today picked a 20-year-old rookie wing to mark Springbok record try-scorer Bryan Habana in Saturday’s Test at Twickenham.
Bath’s 20-year-old wing sensation Anthony Watson comes into the starting side as a replacement for the injured Semesa Rokoduguni, who started against the All Blacks last week.
Watson was one of the stars of the England Under-20 side that won last year’s IRB Junior World Championship, and will make his first Test start at right wing. And he couldn’t have asked for a tougher assignment than having to mark Habana this weekend.
Lancaster had the more experienced Marland Yarde as an alternative, but he feels Watson can handle the big occasion. “Anthony has been pushing hard for a while and has been in impressive form for Bath and in training with us,” the coach said.
“It was great that he got on against New Zealand (last week) and we feel he is ready to start. Equally, it’s good to have Marland back in the match-day 23.”
Good news for Lancaster is that hooker Dylan Hartley and lock Courtney Lawes have passed their concussion tests and will train today.
Scrumhalf Danny Care will also win his 50th Test cap on Saturday, and he will hope that the team can make it a memorable day by ending an 11-match winless streak (10 defeats and one draw) against the Boks.
ENGLAND TEAM
15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler. Bench: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 George Kruis, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Marland Yarde. - Independent Media