England team announcement: Eddie Jones leaves Manu Tuilagi out of squad to face All Blacks
Chris Ashton makes his first England start for four years as one of three changes for Saturday’s long-awaited clash with New Zealand at Twickenham.
Ashton lines-up on the right wing in place of Jack Nowell after impressing during his 15-minute spell as a substitute in the 12-11 victory over South Africa that opened the Quilter Internationals.
The 31-year-old has amassed 40 caps in an international career interrupted by suspension, falling out of favour with successive England coaches and a season-long spell in Toulon.
Nowell drops to the bench but there is no place for Manu Tuilagi despite his recovery from the groin strain that ruled him out against the Springboks.
The two other changes see Ben Moon come in for Alec Hepburn at loosehead prop and Sam Underhill replaces Tom Curry, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the autumn by an ankle injury.
Courtney Lawes returns to the bench after overcoming a lower back problem, forcing Zach Mercer out of the matchday 23.
Owen Farrell co-captains the team alongside Dylan Hartley and needs only one more point to reach 700 for England.
England face New Zealand for the first time in four years and have been installed as heavy underdogs against the world champions.
“The expectation for Saturday is no different to any other Test match,” Eddie Jones said.
We want to be at our best, better than we were in the previous Test match and we want to play with pride and passion which ignites the fan.
“It’s been a good week, the players have recovered well, trained well on Tuesday, exceptionally well on Wednesday and we look forward to the challenge of taking on New Zealand on Saturday.”
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's coverage of today's England team announcement, with Eddie Jones set to name his side to face the All Blacks from midday.
We'll begin our full build-up from 11:30am before Jones speaks to the media at 12:30.
We're all set up and ready to go in Bagshot for the unveiling of the England team, which is about 25 minutes away from being released.
The big talking point will be the make-up of the back-row, with Tom Curry absent and Sam Underhill likely to come in. However, will Jones stick with Brad Shields at 6, or will Maro Itoje move to the back-row and Courtney Lawes come in at lock?
And how about Ryan Wilson? He may have been man-of-the-match, but Zach Mercer looked pretty handy at No 8 when he came on and is pushing for a start.
The backs may be a case of same again, although the return of Manu Tuilagi gives Jones something to think about as he looks to find the right centre pairing.
Elliot Daly; Chris Ashton, Henry Slade, Ben Te’o, Jonny May; Owen Farrell, Ben Youngs; Ben Moon, DYlan Hartley, Kyle Sinckler; Maro Itoje, George Kruis; Brad Shields, Sam Underhill, Mark Wilson.
Replacements: Jamie George, Alec Hepburn, Harry Williams, Charlie Ewels, Courtney Lawes, Danny Care, George Ford, Jack Nowell.
The big news is that Manu Tuilagi has been left out of the squad to face the All Blacks, with Zach Mercer the other unlucky soul not selected for this weekend's big clash.
Is that injury-related or purely on selection? We'll be asking Eddie Jones shortly to find out.
The other changes come slightly as expected, with Ben Moon coming in for his first start in place of Exeter colleague Alec Hepburn in a bid to improve England's early scrummaging.
Sam Underhill starts as expected in the No 7 shirt, with Tom Curry absent with an ankle injury, while those replaced in Jack Nowell and Hepburn are included on among the replacements.
Some early words from Eddie Jones ahead of his arrival here.
The head coach said in the press release of the squad: “The expectation for Saturday is no different to any other Test match. We want to be at our best, better than we were in the previous Test match and we want to play with pride and passion which ignites the fan.
"It’s been a good week, the players have recovered well, trained well on Tuesday, exceptionally well on Wednesday and we look forward to the challenge of taking on New Zealand on Saturday.
“The crowd last week was wonderful, we had great support and enthusiasm for the game and they saw a great Test match and I’m sure on Saturday they will see another.”
Jones is due to arrive any minute, though neither co-captain will be speaking in Dylan Hartley or Owen Farrell in what is a change from England's normal team announcements.
The sight of Jones and Hartley side-by-side on a Thursday afternoon has been a familar one throughout the last three years, but it's all changed this autumn as Jones goes it alone.
More of an order change. We feel Jack played exceptional well last week, but when tyou;re playing against NEw Zealand 80 minutes is incredibly important and Jack's going to be huge for us in the last 20.
He's not quite right. We know he's going to be really important in the future so it;s not worth risking him. He's nearly 99.9% right but until he's 100% it's not worth risking him.
Ready for Japan next week?
Yeah that would be nice, but we'll worry about that next week.
