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England name same XV for Australia but 6/2 bench tactic is binned

England huddle after last Saturday's Autumn Nations Series loss to New Zealand (Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick has kept faith with his entire England starting team beaten last Saturday by New Zealand, retaining all 15 to start again in this weekend’s second Autumn Nations Series game versus Australia at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

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There is one positional switch in the XV, Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade swapping positions and lining out respectively at outside and inside centre. Otherwise, it will be as you were from the 22-24 loss to the All Blacks, the same starting backs and the same starting forwards taking on the Wallabies en masse.

Borthwick’s bench, though, has been tactically altered, the coach abandoning last weekend’s six/two forwards/backs gambit and instead reverting to his traditional selection of five forwards and three backs. It follows considerable criticism of his London bench use against New Zealand.

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Ollie Sleightholme, a sub in last July’s tour-ending loss in Auckland, has been named as the additional back alongside the retained half-back duo of Harry Randall and George Ford. Last season’s leading Gallagher Premiership try scorer with Northampton has been included at the expense of back-rower Ben Curry.

England’s other bench replacement sees Luke Cowan-Dickie named in the match day 23 for the first time since November 2022. He takes over as reserve hooker from Theo Dan, an intriguing move given that it was less than a fortnight ago when Dan was named by Borthwick as one of the 17 players on enhanced RFU elite player squad contracts. Dan was fit for selection against Australia, but Cowan-Dickie was the preference.

Team Form

Last 5 Games

0
Wins
2
5
Streak
2
12
Tries Scored
21
-24
Points Difference
-26
2/5
First Try
3/5
3/5
First Points
2/5
2/5
Race To 10 Points
3/5

It was Sunday evening when Borthwick originally confirmed his squad of 36 to prepare for this fixture, the uncapped Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Charlie Ewels getting respectively called up for the now-retired Joe Marler and Ted Hill.

With two days’ training complete, the team to face Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies is now out and the ambition will be that it is good enough to end a run of five losses in seven matches, the last three coming on the bounce against the All Blacks.

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An RFU statement read: “Jamie George will captain England, supported by vice-captains Maro Itoje, Ben Earl, Ellis Genge and George Ford. In the front row, George starts at hooker, with Genge at loosehead prop and Will Stuart at tighthead.

“Itoje pairs with George Martin in the second row, while the back row features Chandler Cunningham-South on the blindside flank, Tom Curry at openside, and Earl at No8.

“Ben Spencer starts at scrum-half, with Marcus Smith at fly-half. In the midfield, the centre partnership has been switched for this weekend’s match, with Henry Slade starting at inside centre and Ollie Lawrence at 13.

“The back three features Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on the right wing, Tommy Freeman on the left and George Furbank at full-back, completing the starting lineup.

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“There are two changes to the replacements’ bench from last Saturday’s game against New Zealand, with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme set to make their first appearances of the Autumn Nations Series. They join Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall and George Ford among the replacements.”

Borthwick said: “Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we will work diligently this week to ensure we are physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies.

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“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can’t wait to be back at home this Saturday.”

England (vs Australia, Saturday)
15. George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 12 caps)
14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps)
13. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 28 caps)
12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 66 caps)
11. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 12 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 36 caps)
9. Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby, 7 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 63 caps) – vice-captain
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 94 caps) – captain
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 42 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 85 caps) – vice-captain
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
6. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 8 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 54 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 34 caps) – vice-captain

Replacements:
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 41 caps)
17. Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 3 caps)
18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 116 caps)
19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 12 caps)
20. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 18 caps)
21. Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 8 caps)
22. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 97 caps) – vice captain
23. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)

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Comments

1 Comment
P
PM 15 days ago

Interesting switch at centres, presumably it means the ball will move to the outside backs and England will play a little.


Conjecture about regarding a similar shift in the Aussie centres too.


That Sleightholme bloke looks a gun. Scarier than Freeman. Hope he stays on the bench.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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