Bradford Salem RFC

England have named three new caps in the starting team to face Scotland in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations match at Murrayfield.

Saracens Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell will form a new centre pairing at international level, while Northampton Saints’ Phil Dowson makes his debut at No 8.

Fly half Charlie Hodgson – making his first England start since June 2008 in New Zealand – and wing David Strettle make it four from Aviva Premiership champions Saracens in the back division, with one cap Mouritz Botha also starting at lock.

Harlequins’ Chris Robshaw captains the side from openside flanker and there is world cup experience in the pack with Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) and Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) forming the front row, Tom Palmer (Stade Francais) at lock and Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers) at blindside flanker.

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) starts at No.9, with Northampton Saints pair Chris Ashton and Ben Foden at wing and full back respectively.

The match day 22 sees five more uncapped players on the replacements’ bench – Rob Webber (London Wasps), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Ben Morgan (Scarlets), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) and Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins).

Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field.

“Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge – Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations – but one we are relishing.”

England Team to face Scotland
15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13 Brad Barritt (Saracens)*
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens)*
11 David Strettle (Saracens)
10 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
1 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
5 Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt)
8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)*

Replacements
16 Rob Webber (London Wasps)*
17 Matt Stevens (Saracens)
18 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)*
19 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)*
20 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)*
21 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)*
22 Mike Brown (Harlequins)

*Uncapped

Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) and Joe Marler (Harlequins) will travel as reserves.

Kick off is 5pm and the game will be shown live at Bradford Salem RFU