England team announcement: Eddie Jones leaves Manu Tuilagi out of squad to face All Blacks
Here's a recap of what the England manager had to say from his press conference
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Your support makes all the difference.Chris Ashton makes his first England start for four years as one of three changes for Saturday’s long-awaited clash with New Zealand at Twickenham.
Ashton lines-up on the right wing in place of Jack Nowell after impressing during his 15-minute spell as a substitute in the 12-11 victory over South Africa that opened the Quilter Internationals.
The 31-year-old has amassed 40 caps in an international career interrupted by suspension, falling out of favour with successive England coaches and a season-long spell in Toulon.
Nowell drops to the bench but there is no place for Manu Tuilagi despite his recovery from the groin strain that ruled him out against the Springboks.
The two other changes see Ben Moon come in for Alec Hepburn at loosehead prop and Sam Underhill replaces Tom Curry, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the autumn by an ankle injury.
Courtney Lawes returns to the bench after overcoming a lower back problem, forcing Zach Mercer out of the matchday 23.
Owen Farrell co-captains the team alongside Dylan Hartley and needs only one more point to reach 700 for England.
England face New Zealand for the first time in four years and have been installed as heavy underdogs against the world champions.
“The expectation for Saturday is no different to any other Test match,” Eddie Jones said.
We want to be at our best, better than we were in the previous Test match and we want to play with pride and passion which ignites the fan.
“It’s been a good week, the players have recovered well, trained well on Tuesday, exceptionally well on Wednesday and we look forward to the challenge of taking on New Zealand on Saturday.”
Re-live Eddie Jones’ press conference:
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Three changes, start with Ashton?
More of an order change. We feel Jack played exceptional well last week, but when tyou;re playing against NEw Zealand 80 minutes is incredibly important and Jack's going to be huge for us in the last 20.
Ashton
He can sniff a try from anywhere and he's going to be dangerous for us.
Sam Underhill
Sam's had a few injury issues but this is a great chance for him and he'll fill the spot that Tom did so well last week.
Ben Moon
More of an order change again, Ben scrummaged really well so we've gone with him.
Manu Tuilagi not fit?
He's not quite right. We know he's going to be really important in the future so it;s not worth risking him. He's nearly 99.9% right but until he's 100% it's not worth risking him.
Ready for Japan next week?
Yeah that would be nice, but we'll worry about that next week.
Happy with Ashton starting despite lack of minutes?
If I was concerned I wouldn't have picked him.
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