After Marcus Smith was ruled out of the match by a calf problem, George Ford will direct England’s backline. Alex Mitchell has overcome an infected cut on his leg to play scrumhalf.
Tommy Freeman wins his fourth cap and first since 2022 on the right wing thanks to an impressive season at Premiership pace-setters Northampton, which has also supplied Dingwall and Mitchell in the backline.
Three more uncapped players are in the reserves: Back-rower Chandler Cunningham-South, flyhalf Fin Smith and wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
“Winning a first cap for your country is always a very special occasion,” England coach Steve Borthwick said today.
“My message to them has been to be themselves, to grasp their opportunity, and to play with the strengths and skills that deservedly got them selected to a strong Six Nations squad.”
Italy has recalled Treviso hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi after a lengthy injury layoff for his first test match since tearing ligaments in his left knee at the end of 2022.
Lucchesi, who has made 17 appearances for Italy, said it feels like he’s making a second debut.
“Getting back onto the field will have a huge significance for me, especially on an emotional level,” Lucchesi said. “But the group has stayed much the same, and there’s a great relationship between us. Many of us have known each other since the international youth teams. It’s a group that wants to show a lot and shake off the last two matches at the World Cup.”
Italy soundly beat Namibia and Uruguay at the Rugby World Cup in France in September to give it hope of making the quarterfinals for the first time but the Azzurri were then thrashed by New Zealand 96-17 and France 60-7.
Beside Lucchesi, the only other Italy starter who wasn’t at the World Cup was center Tommaso Menoncello, who tore a bicep in a pre-World Cup game against Ireland.
Four of the tight five reserves also weren’t in the World Cup, including uncapped Treviso prop Mirco Spagnolo.
After being shifted around during the World Cup between fullback and win, Ange Capuozzo has gone again to the wing to accommodate at fullback goalkicking sharpshooter Tommaso Allan.
Lineups:
Italy: Tommaso Allan, Ange Capuozzo, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Montanna Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Garbisi; Lorenzo Cannone, Michele Lamaro (captain), Sebastian Negri, Federico Ruzza, Niccolo Cannone, Pietro Ceccarelli, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Danilo Fischetti. Reserves: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Edoardo Iachizzi, Manuel Zuliani, Stephen Varney, Lorenzo Pani.
England: Freddie Steward, Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly, George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Ben Earl, Sam Underhill, Ethan Roots, Ollie Chessum, Maro Itoje, Will Stuart, Jamie George (captain), Joe Marler. Reserves: Theo Dan, Ellis Genge, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-Smith, Danny Care, Fin Smith, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Ethan Roots’ promising career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
In a bid to curb his rebellious streak, Roots pursued other opportunities in mixed martial arts that included a brief albeit memorable stint in cage fighting, aged 16.
“I ripped the guy’s biceps tendon off,” recalls Roots. “He was a 27-year-old farmer from the Far North and he just did not want to tap and I had him in an arm butt. My mum still has it on video, not that I want it to resurface. I got put down in the first round!”
The one-off contest ended in a draw. But Roots’ promising career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu was confirmation that he possessed the raw athleticism and power to make it to the top: he won eight national titles, as well as a gold and three silvers at the Pan-Pacific Championships.
“The best way people describe jiu-jitsu is like human chess,” explains Roots. “I really enjoyed the mental as well as physical challenge that came with it. I started having my growth spurts, I got to over 6ft.
“I was pretty serious about competing in jiu-jitsu so I started watching my diet. There was also the high of seeing the results, so everything combined together made it enjoyable.”
His time spent grappling on the mats and contorting others into chokeholds primed him for a return to rugby after his jiu-jitsu career was unceremoniously cut short. “Me and the [jiu-jitsu] head coach’s daughter were dating at the time,” says Roots. “He found out about it and didn’t like it and expelled me from the club. It didn’t feel right to go back so I didn’t, picked up rugby and fell in love with it again.”
Roots had received a solid rugby grounding at Auckland’s Rosmini College, whose alumni include Gareth Anscombe, the New Zealand-born Wales first five-eighthfly-half, before dabbling in regional sevens where he rubbed shoulders with Mark Telea.
His unconventional rugby route - on which he juggled labour-intensive shifts when he played for North Harbour in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship - meant he never appeared on the All Blacks’ radar.
“I’d get up about 4.30am, go to the gym, have no idea what I was doing but jump on the bike, lift some weights and get out of there,” says Roots. “I’d go to work for 10 or 11 hours and then head to rugby training. I did that about four days a week, break on Friday and have a game on Saturday.
“I might work Sunday for a little bit of extra cash, depending on how much money I’d spent that week. I’ve been there and done that so I understand what a privilege it is to play rugby every day for a living.”
Roots would not secure his first professional contract at Harbour until he was 21, but soon enough was being hunted by three of New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises. He ended up signing for Scott Robertson’s Crusaders and found himself sharing a dressing room with All Blacks like Scott Barrett. “It was nuts,” recalls Roots. “It was pretty surreal, having been on the building sites.”
But he struggled to adapt to the rigours of top-level rugby. Roots made only one appearance for the club - and had six minutes of professional rugby under his belt when he signed a two-year deal with the Ospreys in 2021. It was at the Welsh club that he reinvented himself and began harbouring international ambitions before being picked up by Exeter.
An industrious tackler with plenty of back-row bulk, Roots represents a new wave of young Chiefs belying their inexperience in the Premiership, where they remain in the mix for the play-offs.
“He’s been a natural leader for us,” says Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby. “His maturity in the group is beyond his age. He never felt like a gamble.”
In what feels like a full-circle moment, Roots, whose dad was born near Reading but emigrated to New Zealand as a 15-year-old with his adopted parents, has connected with members of his extended English family after doing an online ancestry test, even welcoming a few of his biological cousins at Sandy Park for matches.
While the father- of -two is fiercely proud of his Māori blood, which he inherits from his mum’s side of the family - a large Māori tattoo stretches across his inked back - Roots has no qualms about wearing the red rose.
“Even if I was born here, I’d still be a proud Māori and a proud Brit,” says Roots, whose partner, Tessa, is an international basketball player for New Zealand’s women’s team, the Tall Ferns. “I don’t think there’s any shame in that. I don’t speak a whole lot of Māori. We didn’t grow up in the house with it, but I’ve still got my family across my back. It’s a huge honour to just be name-dropped and to have caught their attention. I’d be more than happy to take on the responsibility, given the chance.”
With the Telegraph
