Sale Sharks wing Tom Roebuck has been brought in for his first England start in their side to face Wales in Saturday’s Six Nations final-round fixture in Cardiff.
Roebuck, 24, has picked up three caps for England before now, but all have been off the bench and none have come in the Six Nations.
With centre Ollie Lawrence ruled out due to an Achilles injury, a backline reshuffle has seen head coach Steve Borthwick deploy wing Tommy Freeman in midfield, move Elliot Daly from full-back to the left wing, and brought Marcus Smith in again to start at full-back.
Wing Ollie Sleightholme, despite scoring two tries in Sunday’s victory over Italy, has been dropped from the squad. Hooker Jamie George and No 8 Tom Willis have dropped down to the bench and are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ben Curry – Ben Earl shifting to No 8 to accommodate Curry at openside.
England remain in contention for the Six Nations title heading into the final round, but need to aim for a bonus-point victory at the Principality Stadium and hope leaders France slip up at home to Scotland.
England wing Ollie Sleightholme has been dropped from the side despite scoring twice in victory over Italy on Sunday
Elsewhere in the side, Fraser Dingwall keeps his place at centre having been brought in to face Italy, with Henry Slade omitted once again, while the half-backs are unchanged in Northampton duo Fin Smith and Alex Mitchell.
Loosehead Ellis Genge and tighthead Will Stuart start either side of Cowan-Dickie in the front-row – the latter on the occasion of his 50th Test cap – while the second row is made up again of captain Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum.
Maro Itoje’s England have struggled to perform for large swathes of all four Six Nations fixtures so far but still have a chance of winning the title
Tom Curry keeps his place at blindside flanker and will start alongside his twin brother and Earl in the back-row – the same unit that began the championship away to Ireland in Dublin.
Among the replacements, 20-year-old back-row Henry Pollock is in line to make his Test debut, joining George, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, Chandler Cunningham-South, Willis, Jack van Poortvliet and George Ford as cover in a 6-2 split.
Marcus Smith put the frustration of being dropped behind him to score one of seven England tries in victory over Italy
“We’re excited to face Wales at the Principality Stadium this weekend, one of the most iconic venues in rugby,” said Borthwick.
“The atmosphere will be electric, and we know we’ll need to be at our very best to get the result we’re aiming for.”
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 George Ford.
Six Nations Super Saturday fixtures: Round Five
Saturday March 15
Italy vs Ireland (2.15pm kick-off)
Wales vs England (4.45pm kick-off)
France vs Scotland (8pm kick-off)
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