Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet will return for England against South Africa on Saturday after Steve Borthwick made four changes to his starting XV to face the world champions.
Head coach Borthwick had gone with same line-up for England’s narrow defeats to New Zealand and Australia over the previous two weekends, but has made significant alterations as he seeks to end a four-match winless streak.
Steward comes in at full-back in place of George Furbank, while Van Poortvliet replaces Ben Spencer at scrum-half in two changes that appear to be tactical. Neither of the Leicester duo had been included in the matchday 23 for either of the previous two fixtures.
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Winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and forward Tom Curry both miss out after suffering head injuries against Australia. Ollie Sleightholme is promoted from the bench to a starting role on the wing, while Sam Underhill comes into the back row.
England team to face South Africa: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George – captain, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Tom Roebuck.
More to follow…
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