England name unchanged starting side for Australia clash as Steve Borthwick recalls Luke Cowan-Dickie to bench
Steve Borthwick has kept faith with the same starting side as his England team look to bounce back against Australia, while replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie is set for his first appearance under the head coach.
England suffered another narrow defeat to the All Blacks in their Autumn Nations Series opener, but Borthwick has resisted the urge to make radical changes.
His sole alteration to the starting fifteen is a swap of centres with Henry Slade now wearing 12 and Ollie Lawrence 13. The rest of the run-on side is identical to that which began at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham a week ago.
The bench is reshuffled, though, with the six/two split favoured last week abandoned for a traditional combination of five forwards and three backs. Ollie Sleightholme is recalled to the squad after impressing in his debut series in New Zealand in the summer, and Cowan-Dickie takes the place of Theo Dan.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can’t wait to be back at home this Saturday."
Dan passed a head injury assessment after the encounter and was fit for selection, with Cowan-Dickie’s inclusion perhaps hinting at Borthwick’s desire to address England’s recurring scrum woes late in games.
In four of their last five Tests, Borthwick’s side have squandered second half leads and gone on to lose, putting the pressure on ahead of Saturday’s encounter ahead of further meetings with South Africa and Japan.
Cowan-Dickie’s last appearance for England came against the Springboks in November 2022, the final game of Eddie Jones’s tenure.
England team to face Australia at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (Saturday 9 November, 3.10pm GMT)
Starting XV: 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George (capt.), 3 Will Stuart; 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin; 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Ben Earl; 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Marcus Smith; 11 Tommy Freeman, 12 Henry Slade, 13 Henry Slade, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; 15 George Furbank.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt; 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.
