England host South Africa on Sky Sports this Saturday
Wednesday 31 October 2018 08:13, UK
Mike Brown and Ben Morgan have been dropped from England's squad to face South Africa on Saturday.
Courtney Lawes remains with the squad, but will miss Saturday's autumn international at Twickenham with a back spasm.
England are currently training in Portugal, and head coach Eddie Jones will name his 23-man matchday squad on Thursday before returning to London.
Full-back Brown, 33, has 72 England caps and started all three of their Test matches against South Africa in June.
The Harlequins back has scored 13 tries since making his debut in 2007, with two coming in the summer tour of South Africa, while he also featured in all of England's 2018 Six Nations matches.
Meanwhile, Morgan's absence leaves Zach Mercer in line to make his debut at No 8, with the Bath forward one of three uncapped players in the squad along with Ben Moon and Elliott Stooke.
Nathan Earle, Ted Hill, Alex Lozowski, Mike Rhodes, Sam Underhill, Richard Wigglesworth, Joe Cokanasiga and Nick Schonert have also been left out by Jones.
Chris Ashton is set for his first England appearance since 2014 after the Sale Sharks back was retained by Jones.
Lawes is working to be fit for England's Test against the All Blacks on November 10, having sustained the injury earlier this month while sleeping in a hotel bed that was too small for his 6ft 7in frame.
England are already without a host of key forwards for the Quilter Internationals, including Billy and Mako Vunipola, Joe Launchbury, Chris Robshaw and Nathan Hughes.
But forwards coach Steve Borthwick views is confident England still have enough quality to compete as they continue their preparations for the 2019 World Cup.
"We clearly have a few players that have been unavailable for selection in the forward pack but what does is it creates great opportunity for other players to come through and we have seen that happen in the past," Borthwick said.
"[Lawes is] an outstanding player [but] we have got lots of options there. We have a lot of strength in depth. We have been building.
"If you look at the second row there, we have got Maro (Itoje), George Kruis, Charlie Ewels and Elliott Stooke.
"We have got a lot of competition in the back row across all three positions."
Forwards - Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) co-captain, Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby), Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs), Brad Shields (Wasps), Kyle Sinckler, (Harlequins), Elliott Stooke (Bath Rugby), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
Backs - Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens) co-captain, George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Te'o (Worcester Warriors), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
#Followtherose this autumn with all of England's Tests live on Sky Sports throughout November. The action starts on Saturday, November 3 against South Africa before clashes against New Zealand, Japan and Australia.
