Northampton Saints trio Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Mitchell have all been selected to start England’s Rugby World Cup clash against Japan on Sunday.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has made three changes to the side which will play the Brave Blossoms at Stade de Nice (kick-off: 8pm BST, live on ITV Sport), with Saints skipper Ludlam coming into the No.8 jersey having started the opening victory over Argentina on the bench.
Lawes (who leads out England) and Mitchell keep their places in the starting XV after impressive individual performances against Los Pumas which helped England to a 27-10 win.
“It was both pleasing and important that we were able to start our Rugby World Cup campaign with a good win against Argentina last Saturday,” said Borthwick.
“It was incredible to see so many of our supporters in the stadium in Marseille. Their support means a great deal to the team. We hope that we were able to provide the supporters both here in France and at home with some great memories, and we are setting out to do the same again this Sunday in Nice.
“After another good week’s preparation in Le Touquet, we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a Japan side that will be full of confidence following their comprehensive win over Chile in their opening fixture of the competition.”
ENGLAND v JAPAN
Sunday 17 September 2023
Stade de Nice
Kick-off: 9pm (local time)
15 Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 27 caps)
14 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 74 caps)
13 Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 20 caps)
12 Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 54 caps)
11 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 60 caps)
10 George Ford – vice-captain (Sale Sharks, 86 caps)
9 Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 7 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 83 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 80 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 63 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 71 caps)
5 Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 12 caps)
6 Courtney Lawes – captain (Northampton Saints, 101 caps)
7 Ben Earl (Saracens, 19 caps)
8 Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 22 caps)
Replacements:
16 Theo Dan (Saracens, 4 caps)
17 Ellis Genge – vice-captain (Bristol Bears, 53 caps)
18 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 30 caps)
19 George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 4 caps)
20 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 70 caps)
21 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 124 caps)
22 Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 25 caps)
23 Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 15 caps)
