Quilter Internationals: England vs Italy team news for pre-Rugby World Cup Test at St James' Park
Watch England face Italy in the final Quilter International of the summer live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 7pm on Friday.
By Sky Sports Rugby Union
Last Updated: 06/09/19 4:22pm
Mark Wilson is relishing the prospect of stepping out onto the St James' Park in an England shirt to face Italy on Friday night.
The back row has been named in the starting line-up for the final Quilter International before Eddie Jones' side head out to Japan for the Rugby World Cup, with the match taking place at the home of Newcastle United Football Club.
Wilson has already played club rugby at the ground, featuring in Newcastle Falcons' Gallagher Premiership clash with Sale Sharks - the club he will join on loan for the 2019/20 season - in March.
But, speaking to the Will Greenwood podcast, the 29-year-old revealed how much it will mean to feature for England in their first international in a city which has been a part of his life since he joined the Falcons youth set-up aged 14.
"It will be a very proud moment," Wilson said. "I played at St James' earlier in the season, against Sale, and it's such a special place.
"The chance to play in such a special arena is something you've got to relish and is something I'm really excited about.
"I suppose it will be exciting for a lot of the youngsters who go and watch Newcastle, being able to see an England Test match at their front door.
"I'm sure there are a lot of rugby supporters up there who perhaps don't get the opportunity to go to Twickenham much and I'm sure it will be an exciting experience for them."
Wilson will make his first start of England's pre-World Cup campaign against the Italians, while Ruaridh McConnochie is finally set to win his first cap after two false starts.
The Bath winger was named to face Wales in the matches at Twickenham and the Principality Stadium, only to have to pull out of both due to injury.
Also included in the team are three players from outside the 31-man World Cup squad in Joe Marchant, Charlie Ewels and Matt Kvesic. Marchant lines up at outside centre alongside Piers Francis, while Ewels and Kvesic are on the replacements bench.
England go into the match on the back of a record 57-15 win over Ireland at Twickenham just under two weeks ago, while opponents Italy were beaten 47-19 by France in Paris last Saturday.
Head coach Conor O'Shea has made 11 changes to the Italian starting XV from that match, including bringing Gloucester's Bristol-born scrum-half Callum Braley - who qualifies for Italy through his grandfather - in to win his third cap for the Azzurri.
"We will face one of the strongest teams in the world in a match that represents the next step in our preparation for the Rugby World Cup," O'Shea said.
"We will have another opportunity to assess the players' form, in order to understand how to continue the path to the first game against Namibia. Now, our focus is on England."
Italy's other pre-World Cup Tests have seen them lose 29-10 to Ireland in Dublin, followed by an 85-15 win at home to Russia.
England: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jamie George, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Mark Wilson, 8 Billy Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 George Ford, 23 Joe Cokanasiga
Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Guilio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Benvenuti, 11 Edoardo Padovani, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Callum Braley, 1 Nicola Quaglio, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 David Sisi, 5 Dean Budd, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Abraham Steyn, 8 Jimmy Tuivaitai
Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Maxime Mbanda, 22 Guglielmo Palazzani, 23 Tommaso Allan
