Fin Smith will start at fly-half against Fiji on Saturday, with Marcus Smith at full-back and usual captain Maro Itoje on the bench, as England head coach Steve Borthwick rotates through his combinations once more.
Chandler Cunningham-South, who can play at flanker and second row, will make his first Test start at number eight as Borthwick attempts to add depth in the position following Tom Willis’ decision to move to France at the end of the season and out of international eligibility.
With Tom Roebuck left out after suffering a recurrence of an ankle complaint in training on Tuesday, Tommy Freeman reverts to the wing, allowing Ollie Lawrence to make his international comeback in the centres.
Lawrence tore his Achilles tendon in the Six Nations win over Italy in March, but has made a faster-than-expected recovery after a rehabilitation, featuring hyperbaric chambers and red light therapy, which he documented on social media.
Northampton’s Alex Coles comes into the second row, with Itoje’s influence saved for the second half.
George Ford, who steered England through a successful tour of the Americas in the summer while both Fin and Marcus Smith were on British and Irish Lions duty, has been left out of the matchday squad entirely.
England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield admitted that frustration was inevitable among his trio of fly-halves.
“You don’t,” he told Rugby Union Weekly when asked how he managed to keep them all happy.
“But that is how it should be. At this level there is always someone who is a little disgruntled, who has maybe has a little bit of frustration.
“They are all impatient because they all want to play now, and want the shirt now, but an understanding of that is how it is different to their clubs and their selflessness and putting the team first is really important.
“Of course it takes some managing, but they are all good guys and understand the value of the team and that sometimes they are going to get bad news and have to work through it like everyone else.
“We have seen other nations be able to interchange who starts at 10 and done it very very well. The quality of our 10s means we are able to do similar.”
Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour is named on the bench with British and Irish Lion Will Stuart left out of the squad, while Bath’s Henry Arundell, whose last England appearance before a move to Racing 92 was at the 2023 Rugby World Cup is the only backline cover among the replacements.
England: M Smith, Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Feyi-Waboso; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Heyes, Coles, Chessum, Pepper, Earl, Cunningham-South
Replacements: George, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, Arundell
