Maro Itoje has confirmed that the selection of Tom and Ben Curry signals an evolution in England’s plan to beat two-time Six Nations defending champions Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

England edged Ireland 23-22 at Twickenham last season and did so with 2.01-metre Leicester lock Ollie Chessum deployed at blindside flank in a move aimed at fortifying the lineout. That was 2024, according to Itoje who has been restored to the captaincy in place of Jamie George.

“Ireland have got a good lineout, they’ve always had a good lineout,” said the 30-year-old. “We’re built differently. We want to go about the game in a different way.”

The England back row features Tom and Ben Curry (each 1.85m tall) on the flanks and Ben Earl (1.83m) at No 8 in a loose trio built to challenge Ireland at the breakdown and perhaps in workrate off the ball.

“We have enough lineout jumpers,” said Itoje, perhaps hinting at an increase in usage of five- and six-man lineouts this week.

READ: Borthwick spices up England lineup

England won just five out of 12 Tests in 2024, a sequence that included five straight defeats, with their ability to perform well under pressure against top teams a hot talking point.

But they were also the only side to beat Ireland in last year’s Six Nations and Itoje believes a new-look England can repeat that Twickenham triumph at Lansdowne Road.

“We’ve prepared well, the boys have trained well and we’ve come together quite nicely,” he said Thursday. “We’re clear on the plan. We’re ready to go.

“It’s a really big task. Obviously Ireland are a very good team. They’re a team that in their recent history have put together a string of notable performances. They have quality players and continuity, more so than most other nations due to the Leinster connection.”

IRELAND – 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Bench: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
Coach: Simon Easterby

ENGLAND – 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge
Bench: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Harry Randall, 23 Fin Smith
Coach: Steve Borthwick

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)

Six Nations round 1 fixtures
Friday, 10pm: France v Wales (Paris)
Saturday, 4.15pm: Scotland v Italy (Edinburgh)
Saturday, 6.45pm: Ireland v England (Dublin)

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Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images