England have made three changes ahead of Australia on Saturday with Owen Farrell returning to the side, Marcus Smith starting at fly-half and Manu Tuilagi shifting to the wing.
Farrell captains the side from inside centre, while Tuilagi replaces Adam Radwan on the wing and Smith comes in for George Furbank at fly-half. The pack remains unchanged from England’s 69-3 win over Tonga last weekend.
The three changes in the backline see Farrell return after missing their autumn opener against Tonga due to a positive COVID-19 result. This was later deemed a false positive, allowing him to return to action ahead of this weekend’s match against the Wallabies.
Smith made a brilliant impact off the bench in last weekend’s match and does enough to get the No.10 shirt as he builds a new partnership with Farrell at inside centre.
Radwan has dropped out of the matchday 23, meaning Tuilagi shifts to the wing for his first start there for England since 2014.
Elsewhere, Joe Marler misses out through COVID-19 so Bevan Rodd could make his England debut off the bench. Sale’s Raffi Quirke is also in line for his debut, and he is joined on the bench by Sam Simmonds and Max Malins.
“We know this will be a tough test for us, we’re playing against a team who have been together a while and who have beat the world champions twice,” Eddie Jones said. “As an Australian I know how much this game means.
“We’ve had a really good week of preparation, we’re looking to improve our performance this week and I think this side is building well.”
England starting XV:
Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade, Owen Farrell (captain), Jonny May, Marcus Smith, Ben Youngs, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Jonny Hill, Courtney Lawes, Sam Underhill, Tom Curry
Replacements:
Jamie Blamire, Bevan Rodd, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Alex Dombrandt, Sam Simmonds, Raffi Quirke, Max Malins
