England Rugby Announces Consistent Starting XV with Bench and Midfield Adjustments for Australia Clash

The half-back pairing of Marcus Smith and Ben Spencer is set to continue for England’s upcoming Autumn Nations Series match against Australia. The fixture will take place at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday, 9 November, with a kick-off time of 15:10 GMT. Live commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, alongside live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. England has announced a starting lineup that remains consistent for their clash with Australia in the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium this Saturday. Marcus Smith will maintain his role at fly-half, following his notable performance in the narrow loss to New Zealand, while Jamie George will continue to captain the team from the hooker position. A change has been made within the centre partnership, seeing Henry Slade shift to inside centre and Ollie Lawrence taking the 13 shirt. The bench has also undergone adjustments, with hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie replacing Theo Dan. Additionally, head coach Steve Borthwick has opted for an extra back, as wing Ollie Sleightholme comes in for flanker Ben Curry. Should he be brought on as a replacement, Cowan-Dickie will mark his first appearance for England since November 2022. England aims to break a sequence of three consecutive defeats when they face the Wallabies, having recently relinquished an eight-point advantage late in their match against the All Blacks. Commenting on the midfield positional change, Borthwick stated to BBC Radio 5 Live: “Ollie [Lawrence] and [Henry] Sladey have been interchangeable in the way they play from an attack and defence point of view.” He further added: “The number of Test matches they have played together in a row as a centre partnership is also very high in terms of frequency. “They have a good understanding of how we wish to play so I’m looking forward to seeing them go in their slightly tweaked roles this weekend.” Historically, England has secured victory in 10 of their last 11 encounters with Australia, a run that began after their tournament-ending defeat in the 2015 World Cup held at Twickenham. Conversely, the Wallabies have experienced three consecutive losses under the leadership of head coach Joe Schmidt. Borthwick also remarked: “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.” He concluded: “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.” The England squad is as follows: England: Furbank; Feyi-Waboso, Lawrence, Slade, Freeman; M Smith, Spencer; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-South, T Curry, Earl. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Cole, Isiekwe, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Sleightholme. Full-back George Furbank expressed England’s disappointment regarding the missed chance for a first home victory over the All Blacks since 2012, but affirmed the team’s current sole focus is on the upcoming match against the Wallabies. Furbank told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We wanted to win all four of these autumn games. “We put ourselves in a great position to win the first one but didn’t, so now the focus is on the next one.” He continued: “It is now about creating a new energy and a new drive against a fresh opposition. Australia play differently to New Zealand so it will be a different challenge.” Furbank also commented: “I don’t think we are going to change our gameplan too much. We are starting to create a DNA in the way we want to play in attack and defence.” He concluded his remarks by saying: “Australia are definitely building as a side, like we are, and I have never played Australia before so I’m quite excited about that.”