Ellis Genge will captain a much-changed England side for Saturday’s clash with Fiji at Twickenham as Steve Borthwick makes seven changes to the starting XV.
Genge captains the side from the off, having started on the bench in the 25-7 win over Australia a week ago and he is joined in the starting lineup by fellow replacements Fin Smith, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Alex Coles.
Marcus Smith comes into the side at full-back, with Harlequins teammate Chandler Cunningham-South starting at No. 8, while Ollie Lawrence returns to the side at outside centre, playing for England for the first time since an Achilles rupture against Italy in March.
Regular captain Maro Itoje is named among the substitutes, along with Fin Baxter from the starting XV a week ago, while Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Henry Arundell come onto the bench looking for their first minutes of the autumn.
Itoje and Genge are named as co-captains, with Steve Borthwick giving a lot of his key names a rest ahead of crunch Tests against New Zealand and Argentina to follow.
It is the first time since 2017 that Itoje has been named as a replacement for England.
Tommy Freeman moves from outside centre back to his preferred right wing, while Ben Earl shifts from No. 8 to openside flanker.
Only six players have kept the same jersey as last week — Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Alex Mitchell, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum and Guy Pepper.
Speaking on his selection, Borthwick said: “It was a pleasing start to the series against Australia last weekend, and we know we’ll need to take another step forward against Fiji.”
“The focus for us this week is on improving on last weekend’s performance and continuing to develop our game.
“Fiji are a dangerous team with power and quality right across the pitch. They play with physicality and skill, so we’ll need to bring intensity, accuracy and discipline in everything that we do.
“Playing in front of our supporters again at Allianz Stadium means a huge amount to the players, and the team are determined to deliver a performance they can be proud of.”
England squad vs. Fiji
15. Marcus Smith, 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Fraser Dingwall, 11. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Ellis Genge (captain), 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Joe Heyes, 4. Alex Coles, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Guy Pepper, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Chandler Cunningham-South.
Replacements: 16. Jamie George, 17. Fin Baxter, 18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19. Maro Itoje, 20. Tom Curry, 21. Henry Pollock, 22. Ben Spencer, 23. Henry Arundell.
