Saints trio named in England team to face All Blacks
England have named three Saints players in the team for Saturday’s QBE Series opener against New Zealand at Twickenham.
Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood provide a Saints spine in a familiar looking pack, while Northampton skipper Hartley is the most experienced man in the squad with 57 caps to his name.
Meanwhile, fellow Saint George North will plug the injury gap in Wales’ midfield for the opening game of the autumn series against Australia.
He fills in after Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams failed to overcome injury setbacks in time for the season opener at the Millennium Stadium.
England team to face New Zealand: M Brown (Harlequins); S Rokoduguni (Bath), B Barritt (Saracens), K Eastmond (Bath), J May (Gloucester) ; O Farrell (Saracens) , D Care (Harlequins); J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), D Wilson (Bath), D Attwood (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: R Webber (Bath), M Mullan (Wasps), K Brookes (Newcastle), G Kruis (Saracens), B Morgan (Gloucester), B Youngs (Leicester), G Ford (Bath), A Watson (Bath).
Wales team to play Australia: L Halfpenny (Toulon); A Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), G North (Northampton), J Roberts (Racing Metro), L Williams (Scarlets); D Biggar (Ospreys), R Webb (Ospreys); P James (Bath), R Hibbard (Gloucester), S Lee (Scarlets), J Ball (Scarlets), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (unattached), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), T Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: S Baldwin (Ospreys), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Scarlets), B Davies (Wasps), J Tipuric (Ospreys), M Phillips (Racing Metro), R Priestland (Scarlets), C Allen (Cardiff Blues).