Jonny May has recovered after dislocating his elbow last month; David Ribbans is set to make his England debut at lock; Manu Tuilagi and Billy Vunipola are among England's replacements as Guy Porter starts in midfield alongside captain Owen Farrell and Sam Simmonds is named at No 8
Friday 11 November 2022 19:31, UK
Jonny May returns for England as head coach Eddie Jones makes five changes for Saturday's home Test match against Japan.
May comes in for Joe Cokanasiga out wide with Jack van Poortvliet selected to start at scrum-half. Owen Farrell will lead England out at Twickenham and earn his 99th international cap. Marcus Smith stays at fly-half.
David Ribbans will make his England debut at lock and he will play alongside Jonny Hill in the engine room. Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Kyle Sinckler form England's front-row unit.
Sam Simmonds is handed the No 8 jersey instead of Billy Vunipola, who moves to the bench. Manu Tuilagi will also be among the replacements as Guy Porter links up with captain Farrell in midfield.
Jamie George looks to have completed an impressive comeback to fitness after breaking two metatarsals on club duty for Saracens on October 1. He is named on England's bench alongside club team-mate Mako Vunipola.
Japan - the Brave Blossoms - are a side England have never lost to in their history. They have not faced one another since November 2018, though, and Japan pushed the All Blacks all the way in October, eventually losing 38-31.
"The attitude and the determination of the players to put together the best team in the world is high," England head coach Eddie Jones said.
"We had a setback last week; I acknowledge that our performance wasn't good enough and I take full responsibility for that. We've had a really good week, a really vibrant week and we're ready to take on Japan."
With Porter selected to start alongside Farrell in midfield, Jones explained the rational for Tuilagi's move to the bench.
"It's all about workload," Jones said. "We just feel with Manu's injury record to play four big games in a row is probably not in his best interests at the moment.
"So, we've given him a lighter week training, he'll still be able to finish for us and Guy was an instrumental player for us on the Australian tour. He's been out injured so it's great to have him back."
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Guy Porter, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 David Ribbans, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Maro Itoje, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Sam Simmonds.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Manu Tuilagi.
Japan: 15 Ryohei Yamanaka, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Takuya Yamasawa, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 1 Keita Inagaki, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 3 Jiwon Gu, 4 Warner Dearns, 5 Jack Cornelsen, 6 Michael Leitch, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 8 Tevita Tatafu.
Replacements: 16 Kosuke Horikoshi, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Yusuke Kizu, 19 Wimoie van der Walt, 20 Pieter Labuschagne, 21 Naoto Saito, 22 Seungsin Lee, 23 Siosaia Fifita
Maro Itoje has warned Japan to expect a furious backlash from a team determined to show the real England by rescuing their autumn.
With their backs to the walls, England are in familiar territory and Itoje insists it is time to show what they are made of using national pride as fuel.
"We need to break free and just go out there and be the players that we know we are," said the Saracens forward, who will continue in the back-row following his switch from lock.
"The England response I'm expecting to see is a team full of energy, a team that's physical, tough and ready to take the game, not waiting to see what happens.
"We don't want to take a backward step, we want to go out there and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
"You never want to lose a game to have this type of response, but when you are in this position you have to go out there and show yourselves - more importantly, let alone anyone else - what the team is really about.
"Show each other what playing for England means to us and show each other how important this is in our lives. We definitely need to go out there and have that aggressive mindset to do the job.
"England are at our best when we are confrontational, aggressive, we play flat and fast and take the game to the opposition.
"Our forwards like to get their hands on the ball, our backs put us in the right areas and that is what we want to see on Saturday."
