England v Argentina: Billy Twelvetrees to keep his place

England look set to keep faith with centre Billy Twelvetrees for Saturday’s Test against Argentina at Twickenham.

Twelvetrees’ place appeared to be under threat after a poor display during the

20-13 victory over Australia.

But England coach Stuart Lancaster, who names his side for the second of three autumn Tests at 10:45 GMT on Thursday, wants to minimise the changes.

England’s one confirmed change is the return of Alex Corbisiero at prop

“Billy’s done pretty well for us and deserves another chance, I think,” said Lancaster.

Twelvetrees was given a vote of confidence despite being at fault for the Wallabies’ try and he also gave away two penalties.

Lancaster is remaining loyal, though, and said: “Billy is disappointed with one or two areas of his game, but a lot of areas were pretty good. We have to give him credit for that.”

England’s one confirmed change is the return of Alex Corbisiero at prop after missing Saturday’s victory with knee trouble, with Mako Vunipola being ruled out through a similar injury.

Lee Dickson is also under pressure at scrum-half from Ben Youngs, who impressed after coming on as a second-half substitute against Australia.

Wasps wing Christian Wade,

scorer of two superb individual tries against Gloucester

at the weekend, could be in line to win his second cap and make his Twickenham debut on Saturday, replacing either Chris Ashton or Marland Yarde.

There is a change on the bench with second row Geoff Parling replacing Dave Attwood after recovering from the mild concussion sustained in training last week.

Apart from Corbisiero’s return, the pack remains unchanged, although Tom Youngs’ wife is expecting their first child, so Dylan Hartley may start at hooker.

“We’re pleased with the way the pack went at the weekend,” said Lancaster. “I’m not going to start making grand statements about our pack because we know there are definitely areas we can improve on.

“But when you look at the young age and some of the size and athletic ability we have in the forwards – the physicality-pace-power equation – we have some good options building now, some good depth emerging.”

England squad:

Forwards:


Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Alex Corbisiero (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), David Wilson (Bath Rugby); Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Rob Webber (Bath Rugby), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers); Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints).

Backs:


Chris Ashton (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Christian Wade (London Wasps), Marland Yarde (London Irish); Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Joel Tomkins (Saracens), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby); Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers); Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

Players released to clubs:


Dave Attwood (Bath), Freddie Burns (Gloucester), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), Alex Goode (Saracens), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Henry Trinder (Gloucester), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Anthony Watson (Bath).

Article source: http://www.france24.com/en/20131105-scotland-rugby-centre-wary-japan-threat

England v Argentina: Billy Twelvetrees to keep his place