Rugby World Cup: England vs Chile lineups
England made their perfect start to Rugby World Cup 2023 even better last Sunday night with an impressive bonus point victory over Japan.
Steve Borthwick’s men can now book their place in the quarter-finals with a victory over Chile tomorrow at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille. After two intense weekends against the two highest ranked teams in the group, Borthwick has elected to roll the dice and make sweeping changes to his team.
Similarly, Chile have made sweeping changes to their starting team, aiming to change their fortunes after a mixed start to the tournament.
England vs Chile lineups and team news
England
Owen Farrell returns to the starting side after serving his four-match-ban for a dangerous tackle against Wales in the warm-ups. The impressive George Ford moves to the bench as Harlequins’ fly-half Marcus Smith comes into the starting side at fullback instead of Freddie Steward.
Elsewhere, Borthwick changes his six of his eight starting forwards from the Japan win, with Bevan Rodd, Theo Dan, Dave Ribbans, George Martin, Jack Willis and Billy Vunipola coming into the starting side, with Kyle Sinckler and Lewis Ludlam the only two to keep their places. The entire backline is rotated with Danny Care pairing with Farrell inside Ollie Lawrence and Elliot Daly and Max Malins and Henry Arundell joining Smith in the back three.
- Bevan Rodd
- Theo Dan
- Kyle Sinckler
- Dave Ribbans
- George Martin
- Lewis Ludlam
- Jack Willis
- Billy Vunipola
- Danny Care
- Owen Farrell
- Henry Arundell
- Ollie Lawrence
- Elliot Daly
- Max Malins
- Marcus Smith
16. Jack Walker, 17, Joe Marler,18. Will Stuart, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. George Ford, 23. Joe Marchant
Chile
Los Condores have also wrung the changes following their 43-10 loss to Samoa with Matias Dittus the only front row to keep his palce, starting with Salvador Lues and Augusto Bohme. A new lock partnership sees Clement Saavedra and Javier Eissmann come inot the side while Captain Martin Sigren is the only player retained in the starting back row.
In the backs Benjamin Videla replaces the impressive Marcelo Torrealba while Jose Ignacio Larenas, Santiago Videla and Inaki Ayarza make way for Franco Velarde, Cristobal Game and Francisco Urroz in a fully changed back three.
- Santiago Lues
- Augusto Bohme
- Mattias Dittus
- Clemente Saavedra
- Javier Eissmann
- Martin Sigren
- Ignacio Silva
- Alfonso Escobar
- Benjamin Videla
- Rodrigo Fernandez
- Franco Velarde
- Matias Garafulic
- Dominigo Saavedra
- Cristobal Game
- Francisco Urroz
16. Tomas Dussaillant, 17. Vittorio Lastra, 18. Inaki Gurruchaga, 19. Pablo Huete, 20. Thomas Orchard, 21. Raimundo Martinez, 22. Lukas Carvallo, 23. Inaki Ayarza
Players to watch: Marcus Smith and Henry Arundell
Marcus Smith, who has never started a game of rugby at fullback before, made a huge impact when he came off the bench in this position against Japan last week, having a hand in the latter two of England’s four. The electric Harlequin has been tormenting Premiership defences from fly-half for a few years now and will likely be on the scoresheet as a try scorer tomorrow.
New Racing Metro signing, Arundell, is set to make his first appearance at Rugby World Cup 2023. The former London Irish winger forged his name for his electric speed and devastating acceleration. He scored one of the sport’s greatest tries last year, a full-field effort in the Challenge Cup versus Toulon and scored with his first touch in international rugby against Australia a few months later. Arundell will no doubt bag another try tomorrow afternoon and would be a safe bet for first try-scorer.
