England put Itoje on bench & pick Northampton centres

England will play their first minutes of Six Nations rugby without Maro Itoje on the pitch for almost seven years on Saturday after the captain was named on the bench for their opening game of the campaign against Wales.

Itoje missed the start of England's preparations for the tournament in Girona to attend his mother Florence's funeral in Nigeria.

"It's been difficult, to be honest," the 2025 British and Irish Lions captain told the Sunday Times, external of his grief.

"It's been challenging on both the professional and personal front. It's just the paradox of life."

Itoje has been an ever-present for England in the Six Nations since the start of the 2020 tournament, playing all 80 minutes in 30 successive matches.

The 31-year-old was however on the bench for England's autumn win over Fiji.

Hooker Jamie George - Itoje's Saracens team-mate and predecessor as England captain - will lead the side from the start, with Itoje to take on the role when he comes off the bench.

Alex Coles partners Lions lock Ollie Chessum in the second row.

"We all feel for Maro and his family after the very sad loss of his mum," coach Steve Borthwick told Rugby Union Weekly.

"We made the decision for this game that it's best for him to start from the bench.

"I think he is going to have a massive impact. I also know the crowd, when Maro comes to the touchline, will show their appreciation and how much they care for him and his family with a big roar."

George, whose mother during England's 2024 Six Nations campaign, had promised England's squad will rally around Itoje on his return to the set-up.

Borthwick, who won the first of 57 England caps in 2001, says relationships in the current squad go deeper than those when he was a player.

"This squad - the players and the management team - is really building a connection and such a care for each other," he added.

"Certainly in my playing career with England, I don't think that was necessarily the case. The understanding they have for each other as people and what happens away from the rugby field has grown. That connection is so vital for us as a team."

Elsewhere in Borthwick's selection, Northampton duo Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman have won a hotly contested race to start in midfield.

Dingwall started three of England's four autumn internationals at inside centre, but was under pressure from Bath's Max Ojomoh, who impressed when he stepped in for the injured Northampton player against Argentina in the autumn, and fit-again Seb Atkinson.

The selection means Freeman's conversion from a specialist winger into an outside centre option is set to continue.

The 24-year-old won the first 19 of his 22 caps out wide, but started a Test at 13 for the first time in last March's 68-14 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff.

He began at 13 in Northampton's 41-21 win over Bath in December, scoring a hat-trick opposite Ollie Lawrence, one of his main rivals for the spot, to make a convincing case for a Test place.

Lawrence, who has been a first-choice mainstay of the team since the Rugby World Cup in 2023, has been hampered by a knee injury which he has been working on during England's pre-tournament training camp.

Borthwick will hope the backline understanding that has helped Northampton to the top of the Prem domestically will translate onto the international stage.

Steward; Feyi-Waboso, Freeman, Dingwall, Arundell; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George, Heyes; Coles, Chessum; Pepper, Underhill, Earl

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Rodd, Davison, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, M Smith

Elsewhere, Bath wing Henry Arundell will make his first start since the 2023 World Cup after being named on the left wing.

The 23-year-old, who scored a try against Australia as a teenager on his Test debut and a record-equalling five against Chile at France 2023, is a dangerous broken-field runner.

He has improved under the high ball and in defence since moving to Bath at the start of the season.

Leicester's Freddie Steward, a 6ft 5in aerial specialist, starts at full-back with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who has seven tries in 13 caps, completing a back three designed to collect and counter a Wales kicking bombardment.

Borthwick has predicted that Wales, under new coach Steve Tandy, will take to the skies with "50 contestable kicks" when the teams meet at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

"England versus Wales is always a special occasion in the rugby calendar. It's a fierce rivalry with a long history, and one that brings a huge challenge every time we meet," Borthwick added.

"We expect Wales to bring a kicking game, so we'll need to be accurate in how we respond to that challenge."

With England's prop stocks hit by injuries to Will Stuart, Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, England's strongest pairing of Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes start.

While England powered to four successive wins in the autumn with the aid of a 'Pom Squad' set of experienced replacements, there is less Test-proven ability on the bench for their tournament opener.

Bevan Rodd, who has made two Test starts in the last couple of years, and Trevor Davison, who has three caps, are the prop replacements.

Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill and Ben Earl - the back-row combination for England's three toughest autumn internationals - start together again.

As expected, Alex Mitchell and George Ford reprise their half-back partnership with Henry Pollock, who has won all five of his caps off the bench, and Tom Curry among the replacements once again.

Sale wing Tom Roebuck, who has not played since picking up a toe injury in November's victory over New Zealand, is left out of the matchday squad and is given another week to get up to match sharpness.