England dropped Andy Farrell to the bench and recalled specialist centre Billy Twelvetrees to midfield on Thursday in a bid to finish a disappointing November campaign with victory against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.
Farrell, normally a fly-half, played at inside centre in the 28-9 win over Samoa last weekend after Bath No 10 George Ford made his first Test start.
But he failed to impress in midfield and now England coach Stuart Lancaster has given Ford the chance to show what he can do at fly-half against major oposition and an Australia team his side will play at Twickenham in the pool stages of next year’s World Cup.
Although Lancaster retained the same matchday 23 that played against Samoa, he also recalled Northampton’s Tom Wood and Dylan Hartley to blindside flanker and hooker respectively in the two other changes to his starting XV, with James Haskell and Rob Webber dropping to the bench.
“It’s good to be able to give Billy his first start of the series,” said Lancaster in a Rugby Football Union statement. “He took on board the feedback we gave him when he first came into camp and he has worked hard both with us and at Gloucester and deserves his chance.”
Lancaster, who had previously made clear he would have no qualms dropping Farrell, even though the Saracens star’s father, Andy Farrell, is England’s backs coach, added: “Owen is a key part of our squad and will offer a huge amount from the bench.”
Turning to his pack changes, Lancaster said: “The Samoa game gave us the opportunity to give James and Rob a start and they made a good contribution.
“Tom and Dylan were disappointed not to be in the XV against Samoa.
“They are desperate to go out and perform on Saturday to help us finish the series on a high.
England will be especially keen to finish 2014 with a flourish after successive, albeit narrow, losses at home to world champions New Zealand (24-21) and South Africa (31-28) earlier this month raised questions in particular about the ability of their back division and loose forwards against rugby’s leading nations.
Australia, who will kick-off on the back of successive three-point defeats by France and Ireland after opening the Test leg of their tour with a win over Wales, named their side earlier on Thursday.
With Tevita Kuridrani sidelined with an ankle injury, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika moved Adam Ashley-Cooper to outside centre and put Rob Horne on the wing while, up front, Sean McMachon returned at blindside flanker.
Cheika has yet to announce his bench.
England (15-1)
Mike Brown; Anthony Watson, Brad Barritt, Billy Twelvetrees, Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Ben Morgan, Chris Robshaw (capt), Tom Wood; Courtney Lawes, Dave Attwood; David Wilson, Dylan Hartley, Joe Marler
Replacements: Rob Webber, Matt Mullan, Kieran Brookes, George Kruis, James Haskell, Richard Wigglesworth, Owen Farrell, Marland Yarde
