Six Nations: Tom Curry captains England against Scotland

Tom Curry will captain an England side featuring a midfield combination of Henry Slade and Elliot Daly in their Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Number eight Sam Simmonds makes his first start for England since 2018, in the back row alongside Lewis Ludlam

Marcus Smith starts at number 10, with Joe Marchant - out of Covid isolation - and Max Malins on the wings.

Prop Ellis Genge is picked ahead of Joe Marler while lock Nick Isiekwe starts.

England - who have seven players with 10 caps or fewer in their starting XV - are attempting to regain the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield for the first time since 1984.

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England team: Steward; Malins, Daly, Slade, Marchant; Smith, Youngs; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler, Itoje, Isiekwe, Ludlam, Curry (capt), Simmonds.

Replacements: George, Marler, Stuart, Ewels, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Nowell.

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Curry steps up to the captaincy role with Owen Farrell ruled out of the Six Nations by ankle surgery.

Courtney Lawes, who led England in Farrell's absence during the autumn, is recovering from concussion. Centre Manu Tuilagi has suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, while second row Jonny Hill is missing after fracturing his foot.

Head coach Eddie Jones compared Curry to legendary New Zealand skipper Richie McCaw as he explained his decision to make him captain ahead of more experienced players such as Maro Itoje and Ben Youngs.

"Captaincy is not about the number of caps. It is about the person who can lead a group of players out on the field and lead by example, and there is no better player in our squad to do that than Tom Curry," he said.

"He reminds me of a young Richie McCaw who could lead by example and as he career progressed there will be other bits and pieces of his captaincy that go with that.

"He is a player who players like to play with, similar to Owen.

"We are hopefully Courtney will be back at some stage, but for this week he is the most important player to take that big C."

At 23, Curry becomes the youngest England captain since Will Carling in the 1990s. Carling now works with the England squad on leadership.

Curry said: "We speak to him two or three times a week as a leadership group. He has been a great influence on the group as a whole.

"He said 'be yourself and enjoy it'."

Scotland are 'red-hot favourites'

Before 2018 England had won eight straight meetings with Scotland, but they have won only one of the past four.

Last year's landmark defeat at Twickenham contributed to a fifth-place finish in the Six Nations.

"It is the first time I have had the experience of going up there where Scotland are red-hot favourites - they are expected to win," said Jones.

"Every time the players look at the crowd at Murrayfield they will feel that expectation. They have to cope with that.

"There are 62,000 fans in the stand and all those watching on BBC television. We are expected to win every game so it is no different for us."

The comeback kids

Saturday will mark Simmonds and Isiekwe's first England appearances since 2018.

While Simmonds has forced his way back into Jones' squad with barnstorming performances for Exeter and selection for the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Saracens' Isiekwe has taken a more circuitous route.

The second row made his England debut in the same match as Curry, a 38-34 win over against Argentina in 2017.

However, he was replaced after only 36 minutes on his first start the following year and has not played since.

"We took him on that 2018 tour to South Africa - he had a difficult game and was a bit up and down in his club rugby, but over the last 12 months he has been one of the outstanding locks in the Premiership," said Jones.

"With Maro, he can form a pair that we think can shade Scotland at the line-out, and their play around the ruck is first class."

Scotland v England is the BBC's live game on the opening weekend of the 2022 Six Nations

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