The Telegraph has been reporting that Alex Mitchell and Dan Cole are set to start for England on Saturday in their first match of the World Cup.
England will take on Argentina in Marseille as they look to prove all doubters wrong with a convincing first win. This is arguably Englands hardest match of the group stage, however, with Argentina being preferred to take victory by many pundits and fans.
Steve Borthwick is due to announce his starting team on Thursday 7th September, but it appears that the cat is already out the bag.
Alex Mitchell, despite being left out of the original World Cup squad and only having been capped 6 times for England, is expected to start at scrum half ahead of Danny Care who will be on the bench. Ben Youngs is not expected to be a part of the 23 at all.
Mitchell’s inclusion is likely to thrill fans of Northampton, in particular, who have been calling for the 26-year-old to start for England for some time.
The talented scrum half possesses fantastic pace, as well as the ability to speed up the game – a trait that England currently appear desperately short of.
Also set to reintroduce himself in the England squad will be Tom Curry. The Sale Sharks player has been out with injury for some time, but has been deemed fit enough to open Englands World Cup campaign at number 8.
Curry is expected to start alongside Ben Earl and Courtney Lawes as they make up a formidable back row.
There are also expected to be starts for old heads Dan Cole and Jonny May as they intend to use their wealth of experience to ensure that England handle the might of Argentina.
George Ford is expected to start at fly half, with Marcus Smith providing injury cover at 10/15, whilst Freddie Steward starts in his familiar place of fullback.
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