Joe Cokanasiga dropped for England’s Six Nations match with Scotland

Joe Cokanasiga is a shock omission from the England side to face Scotland on Saturday following his man-of-the-match performance against Italy last week. Jack Nowell comes on to the right wing with Cokanasiga not even afforded a place on the bench.

In the three other changes made by Eddie Jones, Henry Slade returns at outside centre, with Manu Tuilagi moving to the No 12 jersey, while Mark Wilson and Ben Moon replace Brad Shields and Ellis Genge respectively.

Related: Manu Tuilagi’s new Leicester deal will boost England, says Jonny May

Cokanasiga’s absence from the entire squad is the biggest surprise, however. Jones bristled at comparisons made last week to the All Blacks great Jonah Lomu by, among others, Sir Clive Woodward, and he is evidently eager to keep a lid on the hype that surrounds the 21-year-old Fiji-born winger. Jones has also hinted that Scotland’s pace on the wings played a part his decision. Nowell, meanwhile, did start against Wales but suffered a stinger injury early on in Cardiff and was not risked against Italy.

Apart from Courtney Lawes’s enforced absence, it is the same XV that lost to Wales in round three, with Joe Launchbury coming into the second row. The Saracens scrum-half, Ben Spencer, is on the bench and appears set to make his first Six Nations appearance while Ben Te’o is also among the replacements.

Jones has also resisted any temptation to rekindle the 10-12 axis of George Ford and Owen Farrell, with the former on the bench and the captain again at fly-half. The inclusion of Marcus Smith in the training squad earlier in the week had suggested that Jones was considering starting Ford but Farrell continues in the No 10 jersey. Ben Youngs, meanwhile, makes his 85th appearance, making him England’s most capped scrum-half of all time.

England v Scotland: teams

England: Elliot Daly; Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi; Jonny May; Owen Farrell (c), Ben Youngs; Ben Moon, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis, Mark Wilson, Tom Curry, Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Dan Cole, Brad Shields, Nathan Hughes, Ben Spencer, George Ford, Ben Te’o.

Scotland: Sean Maitland; Darcy Graham, Nick Grigg, Sam Johnson,Byron McGuigan; Finn Russell, Ali Price; Allan Dell, Stuart McInally, WP Nel, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Sam Skinner, Hamish Watson, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Gordon Reid, Simon Berghan, Jonny Gray, Josh Strauss, Greig Laidlaw, Adam Hastings, Chris Harris.

England can claim the Six Nations title for the third time in four years if they beat Scotland and Wales slip up at home to Ireland. Jones said: “It is the last week of the tournament so it’s exciting. It will be a fascinating finish to the championship, with three teams that can win it, and we are playing against one of our most traditional foes in Scotland for the Calcutta Cup. We have had a good preparation and the side is going to be in a great state to play against Scotland on Saturday.

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“Scotland is a difficult side, they are always at you, they play with a lot of enthusiasm and effort and have got a lot of attacking strings to their bow. Finn Russell is an exceptional player at 10 and they have got some pace on the outside so we are going to have to defend really well against them.”