By Jason Humphries
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, June 22 (Reuters) – England
loosehead prop Alex Corbisiero has been ruled out of the third
test against South Africa after suffering a recurrence of a knee
injury, team management announced on Friday.
The 23-year-old Corbisiero made an immediate impact when he
came off the bench during England’s 36-27 defeat in the second
test against the Springboks and was rewarded with a place in the
starting side for the final test of the series on Saturday.
Corbisiero’s place will now be taken by Joe Marler, who will
move up from the bench to make his third appearance, with Paul
Doran Jones drafted in as one of the replacements.
“Alex trained well early in the week having played well at
the weekend but the knee reacted over the last 24 hours,”
England head coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.
“It is a shame for Alex as he was desperate to take part but
it’s the right thing to put in Joe and we are sure he can build
on his performances in the first two tests,”
Team: 15-Alex Goode, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Jonathan Joseph,
12-Manusamoa Tuilagi, 11-Ben Foden, 10-Toby Flood, 9-Danny Care,
8-Thomas Waldrom, 7-James Haskell, 6-Tom Johnson, 5-Geoff
Parling, 4-Tom Palmer, 3-Dan Cole, 2-Dylan Hartley (captain),
1-Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-Paul Doran Jones, 18-Mouritz
Botha, 19-Phil Dowson, 20-Lee Dickson, 21-Owen Farrell, 22-Brad
Barritt.
(Editing by John O’Brien)
