Coach Steve Borthwick has made 10 changes to England’s starting XV for Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Japan at Twickenham.
The reshuffle comes after England’s 45-22 victory over the Wallabies, with several players sidelined by injury and Borthwick taking the opportunity to give others a chance.
Henry Pollock earns his second Test start at No 8, with Ben Earl moving to openside flank and Alex Coles shifting from lock to blindside.
Captain Maro Itoje is joined by George Martin in the second row, while Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour form a new-look front row.
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There are also significant changes among the backs, with Freddie Steward taking over at fullback and Will Joseph and Cadan Murley starting on the wings.
Joseph makes his first Test start, having earned his only previous England cap in 2022.
Max Ojomoh returns at inside centre for his third Test appearance, partnering Henry Slade in midfield, while George Ford and Jack van Poortvliet form the halfback combination.
George Furbank, Ollie Chessum and Seb Atkinson are undergoing rehabilitation, while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry have been ruled out for the remainder of the Nations Championship.
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Borthwick has retained a six-two split on the bench, which includes uncapped scrumhalf Archie McParland.
“We’re all delighted for Archie,” said Borthwick. “He’s had some bad luck with injury, so it’s especially pleasing to be able to name him in an England match-day 23 for the first time.”
“He’s an outstanding young talent who has worked hard to get to this point, and we’re all excited to see how he goes.”
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England are second on the Nations Championship northern hemisphere log after four rounds, two points behind France, while Japan are fifth in the southern hemisphere standings.
ENGLAND – 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 George Ford, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Alex Coles, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge.
Bench: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Arthur Clark, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Greg Fisilau, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Marcus Smith.
JAPAN – 15 Kazuma Ueda, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Samisoni Tua, 11 Riku Tokito, 10 Riku Kitahara, 9 Naoto Saito (c), 8 Jack Cornelsene, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns (c), 4 Harry Hockings, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Yota Kamimori.
Bench: 16 Kenji Sato, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Opeti Helu, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Tiennan Costley, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Shinya Komura, 23 Jisu Lee.
Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
The post Pollock at No 8 for revamped England appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Coach Steve Borthwick has made 10 changes to England’s starting XV for Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Japan at Twickenham.
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