England give Hill debut as Youngs wins 100th cap against Italy
SHOWS:
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 29, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
1. WIDE SHOT OF EDDIE JONES AND OWEN FARRELL AT NEWS CONFERENCE
2. WHITE FLASH
3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND HEAD COACH, EDDIE JONES, SAYING:
"No different than any other team, the best 23. We feel like we've got a good balance between experienced players and some young guys coming in the squad. There's been great competition at training during the couple of days of training. We've had to maximize our training time. And this is the best squad to do business in Rome."
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 28, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
4. ENGLAND SQUAD IN HUDDLE LISTENING TO CAPTAIN OWEN FARRELL SPEAKING
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 29, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND HEAD COACH, EDDIE JONES ON WHETHER AIMING FOR A BONUS POINT WIN WILL AFFECT THE TACTICS, SAYING:
"It doesn't at all, you know, we've just been focused as soon as we've got the full squad in on maximizing our performance and we've just got to go there. We know it'll present a challenge and we've just got to be as disciplined and focused on just playing to our absolute best. And every minute presents an opportunity to play our best. And we intend to optimize every minute. We've got over 80 minutes in the Rome stadium."
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 28, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
6. COACH EDDIE JONES
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 29, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND HEAD COACH, EDDIE JONES ON JONNY HILL MAKING DEBUT FOR ENGLAND SAYING:
"He's a big tall guy, hits hard, carries hard. A no-nonsense type player similar to the George Kruis mould."
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 28, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
8. FORWARDS IN SMALL HUDDLE
9. FORWARDS RUNNING THROUGH DRILL
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 29, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND HEAD COACH, EDDIE JONES ON BEN YOUNGS WINNING 100TH CAP, SAYING:
"I can only speak with great admiration of Benny (Ben Youngs). He had a difficult World Cup in 2015 and since then he's worked extremely hard on this game. At his best he's close to the best halfback in the world. He's got a great running game, good kicking game. And he's an important infectious character in our squad."
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 28, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
11. SCRUM-HALF BEN YOUNGS KICKING BALL
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 29, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND CAPTAIN, OWEN FARRELL ON BEN YOUNGS WINNING 100TH CAP, SAYING:
"I think everybody knows how good a player Ben is. Not only for what is what he's doing in recent times, but for how long he's been doing it as well. I remember when I was coming through, he was in the England team at a very young age and stepped up to the plate very quickly and has obviously been doing it ever since. He's obviously a brilliant player, great driver of energy through the team, which is brilliant for a scrumhalf and he obviously sees space very well as well and gets the team on the front foot."
BAGSHOT, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 28, 2020) (RFU POOL - ACCESS ALL)
13. FARRELL WALKING WITH TEAM MATES
14. VARIOUS OF FARRELL DURING BACKLINE DRILL
STORY: Exeter's Jonny Hill will make his England debut against Italy on Saturday (October 31) after coach Eddie Jones named him as lock partner to Maro Itoje for the game in Rome where the Six Nations title is at stake.
Scrumhalf Ben Youngs will win his 100th cap, inside captain and flyhalf Owen Farrell. In the absence of the injured Manu Tuilagi, Jones has opted for the creative centre pairing of Henry Slade and Jonathan Joseph, with George Furbank at fullback in place of injured Elliot Daly.
After much speculation about his backrow options, Jones has returned to the trio who performed so well in the World Cup, with Sam Underhill and Tom Curry flanking Billy Vunipola, making his first appearance since the final defeat by South Africa a year ago this week. Hooker Jamie George will win his 50th cap.
There are three uncapped players on the bench - hooker Tom Dunn, centre Ollie Lawrence and winger Ollie Thorley, while Dan Robson is the backup scrumhalf.
England will hope to beat Italy with a bonus point and then rack up enough points to take the title on points difference, assuming Ireland do not buck the odds by beating France in Paris with a bonus point in the final game of the championship on Saturday.
Ireland have 14 points to the 13 of England and France. If Ireland win with a bonus point they will be crowned champions, but that is an unlikely outcome.
Ireland's points difference is +38, with England on +15 and France on +13. To finish top England would need to secure their bonus point, make up the 23-point deficit on Ireland, and then better any further points difference advantage Ireland might make up with a non-bonus point win.
The France v Ireland game looks set to go ahead despite the country going into lockdown. However, the home side's only hope of the title is to beat Ireland by a better margin than England manage against Italy - or hope England lose to Italy for the first time.
(Production: Oliver Regan)
