ENGLAND TEAM NEWS: BORTHWICK NAMES LIONS ON THE BENCH
Perhaps reacting to last year’s poor finishes to matches, Steve Borthwick has opted to start six Lions on the bench, including forwards Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie.
George Ford gets the nod at fly-half with Fin Smith on the bench whilst Marcus Smith misses out on the 23 altogether.
Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Fin Smith.
