UPDATE 1-Rugby-Cokanasiga out of England squad to face Scotland
There was no reference to an injury for Cokanasiga but Jones will explain his decision in a news conference later on Thursday. Jones has raised concerns about Cokanasiga's defensive reliability, though England are unlikely to be seriously tested by Scotland missing three of their first-choice back three players.
In two other changes Ben Moon comes in for Ellis Genge in the front row while flanker Mark Wilson starts in place of Brad Shields. Ben Spencer offers scrumhalf cover off the bench for Dan Robson, who is ruled out through illness. The big talking point, however, was the absence of giant 21-year-old Cokanasiga who, winning his fourth cap, wowed the crowd at Twickenham last week with his athletic running and eye-catching one-hand carrying.
Jones, however, was quick to dampen down the adulation after Clive Woodward compared him to former New Zealand great Jonah Lomu and said he could have the same impact for England as World Cup-winner Jason Robinson. "That’s ridiculous," Jones said. "The guy has played two tests (he has played four) - Lomu almost won a World Cup for New Zealand, changed the way the game’s played. So let’s get serious about it."
He also said the one-handed carrying that exposed his Fijian heritage was more pleasing to journalists than coaches. Though he said he had the potential to be "one of the best players in the air in the world", he still had areas to work on. With or without him, by the time England kick off at 1700GMT they will know whether they are playing for the title - if Ireland have beaten Wales earlier in the day - or just the Calcutta Cup should Wales triumph in Cardiff to secure a Grand Slam.
Scotland have not won at Twickenham since 1983 and, after winning their opening game of this year's Six Nations against Italy, they lost their next three amid a lengthy injury list. "Scotland are 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," Jones said.
"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." England team to face Scotland:
15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 29 caps) 14 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 32 caps) 13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 21 caps) 12 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 31 caps) 11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 44 caps) 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 69 caps) (captain) 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 84 caps) 1 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps) 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 36 caps) 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 21 caps) 4 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 57 caps) 5 George Kruis (Saracens, 31 caps) 6 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 12 caps) 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 9 caps) 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 40 caps) Replacements (203 caps) 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 10 caps) 17 Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 8 caps) 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 84 caps) 19 Brad Shields (Wasps, 7 caps) 20 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 21 caps) 21 Ben Spencer (Saracens, 2 caps) 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 54 caps) 23 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors 17 caps) (Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
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