Bristol Bears star Ellis Genge may have been recognised as the best loose head prop on the planet at World Rugby's annual awards on Monday, but England head coach Eddie Jones has named him as a replacement on South Africa this weekend.
England will host the Springboks at Twickenham Stadium in their final Autumn Nations Series game on Saturday 26 November (5.30pm KO), having won one, draw one and lost one so far.
Genge, who was named in the World Rugby Dream Team of 2022, is amongst the finishers as Jones rings the changes with Exeter Chiefs trio Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Simmonds and Jack Nowell also dropping out of the starting side to take a place on the bench.
Tommy Freeman comes in at right wing for Nowell while Saracens hooker Jamie George and prop Mako Vunipola come into the frontrow to join Bristol's Kyle Sinckler.
Alex Coles comes in at flanker for Simmonds.
The two sides last faced each other in November 2021, where England won a close match 27-26.
Jones said: “This is our last game of the autumn and our chance to continue building on the improvements we have made throughout the matches.
“We have made steady progress from game-to-game, culminating in a pulsating draw against New Zealand.
“Now we have the chance to test ourselves against the might of the world champions.
“We’re going out there to light the crowd up. The support at Twickenham was outstanding last week and we want to work hard on the pitch to make sure we have another atmosphere like that again on Saturday.”
England v South Africa is live on Amazon Prime Video and talkSPORT.
ENGLAND XV
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
13. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 49 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (C) (Saracens, 100 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 71 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 16 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 6 caps)
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 73 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 71 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 55 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 61 caps)
5. Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 18 caps)
6. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 44 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 67 caps)
FINISHERS
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 40 caps)
17. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 42 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 24 caps)
19. David Ribbans (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
20. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 120 caps)
22. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 51 caps)
23. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 44 caps)
