England v Ireland: What time, what channel and team news for Twickenham showdown

Where and when is it on?

Saturday’s match takes place at Twickenham Stadium with a 4.45pm kick-off.

What are the teams?

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has recalled the big guns for Saturday's trip to Twickenham, with Andrew Conway, Bundee Aki and Peter O'Mahony edging the major selection calls.

As expected, Johnny Sexton returns to the starting team as captain, with Joey Carbery dropping to the bench, having worn the No 10 jersey for the previous two Six Nations games.

Ireland – H Keenan; A Conway, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; J Sexton (capt), J Gibson-Park; C Healy, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, J Ryan; P O'Mahony, J van der Flier, C Doris. Reps: R Herring, D Kilcoyne, F Bealham, I Henderson, J Conan, C Murray, J Carbery, R Henshaw.

England back-row Tom Curry has been passed fit to face Ireland in Saturday's Six Nations showdown at Twickenham.

Curry has recovered from a head injury to start, but No 8 Alex Dombrandt has to make do with a place on the bench, having been struck down by Covid last week.

That means Exeter's Sam Simmonds is recalled to the team, as he completes the back-row along with Curry and captain Courtney Lawes.

England - Steward; Malins, Marchant, Slade, Nowell; Smith, Randall; Genge, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Ewels, Lawes (capt), Curry, Simmonds.

What to read and listen to on Independent.ie?

We already have plenty of pre-match build-up for you to enjoy.

When Andy Farrell named his team to face Wales five weeks ago, it was striking that all eight of Ireland’s forwards were skilful ball-players. Tomorrow, they go to Twickenham with a collection of forwards who look built to play a different game.

Ruaidhri O'Connor has examined the different game-plan Any Farrell will have to implement in Andrew Porter's absence.

"In my experience they love inflicting it on the visiting team at Twickenham. And the crowd loves watching them inflicting it on the visiting team. Of all the venues I’ve played in, Twickenham was the most hostile when the England team and the England supporters were in full battle cry together."

Former Ireland captain Rory Best has shared some of his memories of previous games.

"Italy may pose little obvious collective threat to Ireland’s ambitions of regaining a semblance of control on their 2022 Six Nations title hopes this weekend.

But Andy Farrell and his staff will not need to be alerted to one significant individual spark that could derail their sense of insuperable optimism as they seek to pile on the points against the hapless Azzurri."

And David Kelly says that Ireland’s trip to Twickenhan will reveal much about the two sides’ progress

And we have the latest Left Wing podcast previewing the game for you to listen to below.

What is Ireland’s record against England like?

Since first meeting on 15 February 1875, when England won a very different format of rugby by two goals (both from tries) to nil, the sides have met on another 137 occasions.

England have won 80 in total, Ireland 50 and eight have ended all square. The teams' most recent meeting was during the 2021 Six Nations in Dublin, which Ireland won 32-18.

Where can I watch the match?

The game will be shown live on RTÉ 2 with coverage starting at 4pm.

What are the odds?

Ireland are 8/11 favourites with England 6/5 and the draw priced at 14/1.

What are the two camps saying?

Johnny Sexton (Ireland):

"We don't really care about favourites or who is the favourites, you know what I mean? It's irrelevant really.

"We obviously haven't won that many times over the years there but that's not to say we can't do it this time.

"It's really down to this game and who can get their best performance out there. All our prep has been focused on doing that, realising the task that is at hand with the atmosphere that is going to hit us and the intensity that they will bring to the game, and preparing to try and play our best under severe pressure and conditions.

"It's a great test for us and we'll see if we've learned lessons from the French game and if we can adapt and play better in an away stadium."

Joe Marler (England):

“We had a good session. Gengey (Ellis Genge) punched me four times, put my nose this way and that way and then a rib shot! Not to worry, I’ll get him back later!

“No, the hits are a bit stickier. Whenever I make a gag, there are normally laughs but not today. They’re looking at me and I’m thinking, ‘okay, this is serious.’

“I’m trying to think of the last bar-room brawl I was involved in. It will be tasty , they love chucking numbers at the breakdown. You get around 40 attempts from them to attack us there in every game."

What are the other Six Nations games this weekend?

Friday March 11: Wales v France, Principality Stadium (KO 8.00m, RTÉ2)

Saturday March 12: Itay v Scotland, Stadio Olimpico (KO 2.15pm, Virgin Media One)