Itoje benched as England change seven for Fiji
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Marcus Smith has been recalled at fullback as one of seven changes to England’s starting line-up for Saturday’s clash against Fiji at Allianz Stadium.
Smith, primarily a flyhalf was left out of the matchday squad entirely as England launched their Nations Series campaign with a 25-7 win at home to Australia.
George Ford started at flyhalf against the Wallabies, with Fin Smith providing cover off the bench.
But with fullback Freddie Steward struggling with a hand injury suffered against Australia, Harlequins playmaker Marcus Smith is now back in the team, wearing the No.15 shirt with Fin Smith starting at No.10.
Ellis Genge will lead the team as one of two co-captains, the second being regular skipper Maro Itoje, who is named on the bench for the first time since 2017.
Only six players who started against Australia are in the same positions this weekend, with Tommy Freeman moving to the wing from centre and Ben Earl moving across from No.8 to openside flanker.
Earl’s back row switch means Chandler Cunningham-South makes his first Test start at No.8 as England coach Steve Borthwick looks to build positional depth ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia following Tom Willis’s decision to leave England to join French side Bordeaux-Begles next season.
England beat Fiji 30-24 in a tense 2023 World Cup quarterfinal in Marseille, having lost to the Pacific islanders for the first time just weeks earlier in a pre-tournament warm-up game at Allianz Stadium.
England: 15 Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge (co-captain)
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Maro Itoje (co-captain), 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Henry Arundell
Date: Saturday, November 8
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Kick-off: 17.40 (05.40 FJT, Sunday, November 9; 17.40 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Luc Ramos (France), Katsuki Furuse (Japan)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
