England vs Tonga team news: Billy Vunipola starts as Eddie Jones fights fire with fire in World Cup opener

Vunipola will start against the country of his heritage with Manu Tuilagi also in line to face the Pacific Island nation as Jones challenges side to batter Tonga into submission

England will turn to their own Tongan to plot the downfall of the Pacific Islanders with Billy Vunipola selected to start their Rugby World Cup opener on Sunday.

In a move to fight fire with fire, Eddie Jones will select the influential No 8 for the Pool C encounter with Tonga, the nation of Vunipola’s heritage, and it’s understood that the head coach is in line to also start with Manu Tuilagi, meaning England will have two players hailing from the Pacific Islands in their matchday squad.

Vunipola will start the World Cup clash nearly 20 years after father Fe'ao and uncle Elisi started against England in a 101-10 demolition that remains the red rose’s second-highest World Cup victory.

The selection is in order for the trio to lead England’s destructive defence and try to give Tonga a taste of their own medicine, which assistant coach John Mitchell admitted he is relishing the prospect of.

“It really excites us, being brutal, and it is something we look forward to and what we are about,” the defence coach said. “It is something that we embrace and we really enjoy. It’s very important to our players as Englishmen, playing in that white jersey, to have that presence.

“We have to realise that we need to be smart with it as well. I think the game will have huge intensity at the start as you’d expect. Then there will come a point when the game opens up. We like to be physical but we can also move around pretty quickly as well, but we have to earn that.

“You’ve got to be stable and you’ve got to be calm. Defensively, that is really important to us so we can make good decisions and be physical in our contacts as long as we remain stable and calm. If you stay stable and calm then you have the ability to stay connected.”

Owen Farrell will captain the side with Jones electing to mix his big guns with a number of the squad who would not normally be considered among his first-choice XV.

But Jones has been keen to stress that not only does he not select a starting line-up by merit, he no longer chooses just the matchday 23, with the Australian stressing the need for a complete 31-man squad effort on for every game in order to win the World Cup.

Joe Marler, the loosehead prop, looks set to feature despite missing training on Thursday afternoon to ensure England do not have a crisis on their hands in the front-row, with Mako Vunipola – Billy’s older brother – ruled out of the opening two pool matches a fortnight ago as he recovers from hamstring surgery.