Nations Championship: Henry Pollock, Max Ojomoh, Will Joseph start for England vs Japan as part of 10 changes
England vs Japan at Twickenham on Saturday in Nations Championship Test (4.40pm); Steve Borthwick makes 10 changes to starting XV; Henry Pollock, Max Ojomoh, Will Joseph, Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, George Martin, George Ford, Cadan Murley, Freddie Steward all in
Thursday 12 November 2026 16:19, UK
Henry Pollock, Max Ojomoh and Will Joseph will all start for England in Saturday's Nations Championship Test vs Japan as part of 10 changes.
Fresh from his two-try impact off the bench - out of position on the wing - Pollock is named to start at No 8 by head coach Steve Borthwick. Despite his huge impact to date, Saturday will only be the second time in 15 Tests Pollock starts.
Ojomoh comes in for his first cap in a year to start at inside-centre with Seb Atkinson out injured (hip), while Joseph replaces Tommy Freeman on the right wing in his first England appearance since July 2022.
Elsewhere, there are three new starters in the front-row with loosehead Ellis Genge, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and tighthead Asher Opoku-Fordjour.
George Martin starts in the second row, while experienced fly-half George Ford is picked ahead of Marcus Smith.
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Wing Cadan Murley and full-back Freddie Steward form a new back-three with Joseph, in the absence of injured duo Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (ankle) and George Furbank (groin).
Outside-centre Henry Slade and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet maintain their places in the backline, with Maro Itoje captaining the side once again from the second-row.
There are positional switches for Alex Coles - lock to blindside flanker - and Ben Earl - No 8 to openside flanker.
Northampton Saints scrum-half Archie McParland is also in line to make his Test debut off the replacements bench.
Hooker Theo Dan, loosehead Emmanuel Iyogun, tighthead Joe Heyes, lock Arthur Clark and back-rows Ben Curry and Greg Fisilau complete the bench alongside half-backs McParland and Smith.
"Japan are a very well-coached side who will challenge us in different ways, and we know we'll need to bring intensity throughout the game," said Borthwick.
"The atmosphere at Allianz Stadium last week was incredible. The players really fed off the energy in the stadium, and we're really looking forward to being back on Saturday.
"We're all delighted for Archie. He's had some bad luck with injury, so it's especially pleasing to be able to name him in an England matchday 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."
England squad to face Japan in Nations Championship
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 George Ford, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin, 6 Alex Coles, 7 Ben Earl, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Arthur Clark, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Greg Fisilau, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Marcus Smith.
Debutant winger Tokito picked by Japan for Twickenham clash
Japan have made one change to their starting lineup and one more on the bench for the Nations Championship clash against England.
Head coach Eddie Jones has kept faith with the bulk of the team that came close against Wales in Cardiff last Saturday, losing 28-21.
Riku Tokito, who shone with the Japanese sevens team at the Nagoya Asian Games, will make his debut on the left wing, replacing the injured Inoke Burua in the only change to the starting XV.
On the bench, scrum-half Shinobu Fujiwara comes into the reckoning in place of Kenta Fukuda, who scored a try after coming on as a replacement last week.
Riku Kitahara, who made his debut at fly-half last week, continues in that position. Ryunosuke Ito, who was plucked from university rugby by Jones and impressed with a try against Australia, is absent as he is required by Meiji University for a collegiate competition, meaning he is missing the northern hemisphere leg of Japan's Nations Championship campaign.
"That's the uniqueness of Japanese rugby," Jones said this week.
Japan: 15 Kazuma Ueda, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Samisoni Tua, 11 Riku Tokito, 10 Riku Kitahara, 9 Naoto Saito (co-captain); 1 Yota Kamimori, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 4 Harry Hockings, 5 Warner Dearns (co-captain), 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Jack Cornelsen.
Replacements: 16 Kenji Sato, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Opeti Helu, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Tiennan Costley, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Shinya Komura, 23 Jisu Lee.
