Ashton back for more All Black blood
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: England coach Eddie Jones has named his matchday squad to play New Zealand in their second year-end Test at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
Jones makes three changes to the starting XV that beat South Africa 12-11 last weekend.
Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), who scored a try when England last beat New Zealand in 2012, will start on the right wing.
Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs) is named as loosehead prop while Sam Underhill comes in at openside flank following an ankle injury to Tom Curry (Sale Sharks).
There are three changes to the bench – with Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) and Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) all named as finishers.
Owen Farrell (Saracens), who will co-captain the team alongside Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), is one point short of reaching 700 points for England.
“The expectation for Saturday is no different to any other Test match,” 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.
“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.”
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell (co-captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Brad Shields, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dylan Hartley (co-captain), 1 Ben Moon.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Jack Nowell.
Date: Saturday, November 10
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 15.00 (15.00 GMT; 04.00 NZ time Sunday, November 11)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
