Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi will make his England debut against Wales in the World Cup warm-up international at Twickenham on Saturday.
Prop Matt Stevens returns for the first time since being banned after testing positive for cocaine in 2009.
Jonny Wilkinson will start at fly-half, with flanker Lewis Moody named captain.
England manager Martin Johnson is currently working with a group of 40 players and must finalise his 30-man World Cup squad on 22 August.
Tuilagi missed the last five weeks of the club season having been suspended for punching England team-mate Chris Ashton, but the Samoan-born 20-year-old has impressed during England's six-week training camp.
"I'm really proud to be winning my first cap," said Tuilagi, who was voted Aviva Premiership young player of the year last season.
"There is a lot of competition for places and I just want to take this chance and do the best I can for the team. The boys have worked hard during the camp but now we have to perform against Wales."
He will form a centre partnership with Riki Flutey, making his first appearance since the 2010 Six Nations along with Delon Armitage at full-back, while Matt Banahan gets a run out on the wing.
The uncapped duo of 21-year-old Gloucester winger Charlie Sharples and Saracens lock Mouritz Botha are on the bench.
Moody missed the Six Nations title campaign with knee ligament damage and only returned to action with his club Bath at the end of April.
England team to play Wales: D Armitage (London Irish); M Banahan (Bath Rugby), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), R Flutey (London Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); A Corbisiero (London Irish), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), M Stevens (Saracens), S Shaw (Unattached), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L Moody (Bath Rugby, capt), J Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams).
Replacements: L Mears (Bath Rugby), D Wilson (Bath Rugby), M Botha (Saracens), T Wood (Northampton Saints), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), C Hodgson (Saracens), C Sharples (Gloucester Rugby).
via bbc.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment