(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Centre
Ben Te'o will play his first England Test for almost a year and his
first rugby of any sort for more than three months after overcoming an
ankle injury to be included in the team named by Eddie Jones to face
Italy in Rome tomorrow.
After featuring for the British and Irish
Lions in New Zealand last summer, the hard-running Te'o played only a
handful of games for his club Worcester before suffering the injury in
October that required the insertion of a plate.
After extensive
rehabilitation he has clearly done enough in the England camp to impress
Jones, and is preferred for the Six Nations opener to usual outside
centre Jonathan Joseph to partner Owen Farrell tomorrow, winning his
ninth England cap but making only his second start.
In the absence of
injured duo Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes, Sam Simmonds wins a
fourth cap at number eight, with Chris Robshaw and Courtney Lawes either
side of him in the back row.
'He is a good young kid, he does the
simple things well, he runs hard, tackles hard, works hard, Jones said
of the 23-year-old Simmonds, whom three months ago he described as too
small to be an international number eight. 'He is a humble boy, he's
really fitted into the team well and his enthusiasm for ball carrying is
going to be important on Sunday.
Mike Brown retains the fullback
jersey, with Anthony Watson and Jonny May on the wings. With Joe Marler
suspended and Ellis Genge, Matt Mullan and Beno Obano all injured,
uncapped prop Alec Hepburn is named among the replacements.
Jones has
always admired the hole-punching ability of rugby league convert Te'o
but the New Zealand-born, part-Samoan 31-year-old has had to work
overtime to get back into Test-match shape after such a long lay-off.
As
evidence of his commitment he spent a lot of his own money to fund a
six-week rehabilitation course in Brisbane, which included the extensive
use of a cryotherapy ice machine. 'He's a very experienced player, he
knows his body, Jones said on Thursday.
'He went to Australia with
trusted physios and has come back in super nick and is definitely ready
to play a significant part of the game.
'He's got a big match demeanour, he doesn't get too excited or too disappointed and gets on with the next play.
Te'o's
only previous England start was also against Italy last year when they
had something of a scare at Twickenham when they struggled to deal with
the Italians' surprise 'no ruck tactics before coming from behind at
halftime to emerge 36-15 winners.
That took their tally to 23 wins from 23 games against Italy, averaging 40 points a game.
England
will expect to make it 24 tomorrow in the first step in their bid to
become the first team to win the Five/Six Nations championship outright
three years in a row.
Team: 15-Mike Brown, 14-Anthony Watson,
13-Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11-Jonny May, 10-George Ford, 9-Ben
Youngs, 1-Mako Vunipola, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Joe Launchbury,
5-Maro Itoje, 6-Courtney Lawes, 7-Chris Robshaw, 8-Sam Simmonds
Replacements:
16-Jamie George, 17-Alec Hepburn, 18-Harry Williams, 19-George Kruis,
20-Sam Underhill, 21-Danny Care, 22-Jonathan Joseph, 23-Jack Nowell
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