Farrell to face haka in 100th Test

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Owen Farrell will become only the third English rugby player to reach a century of caps for his country when he leads out the team against New Zealand on Saturday at Twickenham.

Scrumhalf Ben Youngs, who is on the bench, and retired prop Jason Leonard are the other two to have reached that landmark.

Farrell captains a starting line-up that sees coach Eddie Jones take the unusual step of naming two No 8s, Sam Simmonds and Billy Vunipola in his back row.

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Jones’s hope is this will give the team greater ball-carrying options. Simmonds and Vunipola were first paired together towards the end of last Saturday’s 52-13 rout of over Japan.

Both players are specialist No 8s but Simmonds has been named at blindside flanker for this weekend’s clash against the All Blacks.

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England – 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Sam Simmonds, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge
Subs: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Will Stuart, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Guy Porter, 23 Henry Slade

Agence France-Presse

Photo: EPA/Jono Searle/BackpagePix

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