Grand Slam spoilers?

Head coach Eddie Jones has named his England team for their final 2018 Six Nations clash with Ireland at Twickenham this weekend.

In a reverse of last year’s events, England cannot win the Six Nations, with Ireland having already secured the championship with a round to spare. But they will be hoping they can return the favour, and spoil a potential Grand Slam party.

Captain Dylan Hartley returns after recovering from injury with tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler making his first start of the campaign.

Saracens lock George Kruis will partner Maro Itoje in the second row while James Haskell (Wasps) will start at openside flanker with Chris Robshaw moving to the blindside.

Saracens club mates Richard Wigglesworth and Owen Farrell will start as the halfback pairing. Ben Te’o moves to inside centre with Jonathan Joseph recalled at outside centre. Don Armand is named on the bench

“We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and play there. We have had a couple of tough games on the road and to get back and play in front of our 24th man will be exciting for the players and they will be looking forward to putting in a good performance,” said Jones.

“Ireland is a very good team. We have seen in every game the physical contest has been quite enormous so we have to meet that physical challenge and then play smart tactically.”

Starting XV

15 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby 32 caps), 14 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers 33 caps), 13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby 39 caps), 12 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors 12 caps), 11 Elliot Daly (Wasps 17 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens 57 caps), 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens 30 caps), 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens 48 caps), 2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints 92 caps), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins 9 caps), 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens 18 caps), 5 George Kruis (Saracens 24 caps), 6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins 63 caps), 7 James Haskell (Wasps 76 caps), 8 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs 6 caps).

Replacements:
16 Jamie George (Saracens 24 caps), 17 Joe Marler (Harlequins 55 caps), 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers 81 caps), 19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps 51 caps), 20 Don Armand (Exeter Chiefs 1 cap), 21 Danny Care (Harlequins 80 caps), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers 44 caps), 23 Mike Brown (Harlequins 68 caps).