BROOKES NAMED IN SQUAD FOR THIRD TEST
Brookes, 23, gained his first full international cap when he came off the bench for his country during last weekend’s second test against the All Blacks.
Despite coming into the game late, Brookes and his fellow replacements made a big difference to the tourists, with an England try scored in the dying minutes to leave the score at 28-27 to New Zealand.
Speaking of Brookes’ international debut, Falcons head coach John Wells said: “I’m delighted for Kieran. He’s worked really hard to get to where he is now and it’s great to see that paying off both for the club and at international level too.
“He came on last weekend and destroyed two scrums, and I’m looking forward to watching him make another big impact against the All Blacks this weekend.”
Originally signing for the Falcons in the summer of 2009, Brookes moved to Leicester Tigers in 2011 and spent two seasons with the club before returning to the North East in March 2013.
Elsewhere in the line-up, England head coach Stuart Lancaster has made seven changes from the team that appeared in Dunedin last weekend. All twelve Aviva Premiership teams are represented in the squad for Saturday’s final test, which will be played at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton.
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) and Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby) replace the injured Danny Care (Harlequins) and Owen Farrell (Saracens) at half back while Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby) comes in for Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby) in the centre, where he will be joined by Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), with Chris Ashton (Saracens) on the wing.
There are three changes in the pack with Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) and Billy Vunipola (Saracens) taking over from Rob Webber (Bath Rugby), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps) and Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby) respectively.
Lancaster said: “We want to finish the tour and the season on a high and we have a fantastic opportunity on Saturday. Our aim was to win a Test series and we are disappointed that we haven’t but I am confident the players selected will go all out to achieve the win on Saturday.
“We have progressed as a squad during this tour and while there has been challenges with the end of season scheduling affecting selection it has been a great opportunity to work with a wider group of players and test many of them at the highest level in the build up to the World Cup.”
England’s third test against New Zealand kicks off at 8.35am BST (7.35pm NZST) this Saturday, 21 June and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
Full team:
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins, 28 caps)
14 Chris Ashton (Saracens, 38 caps)
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 24 caps)
12 Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)
11 Marland Yarde (London Irish, 4 caps)
10 Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby, 4 caps)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 37 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 21 caps)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 56 caps)
3 David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 36 caps)
4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 31 caps)
5 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers, 21 caps)
6 Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 29 caps)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt, 27 caps)
8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 9 caps)
Replacements
16 Rob Webber Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 7 caps)
17 Matt Mullan (London Wasps, 4 caps)
18 Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 1 cap)
19 Joe Launchbury (London Wasps, 21 caps)
20 Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 22 caps)
21 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints, 17 caps)
22 Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks, 8 caps)
23 Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints, 6 caps)
