England have overhauled their team for Saturday’s match against Fiji with full-back Marcus Smith and fly-half Fin Smith given starts at Allianz Stadium.
Ellis Genge will lead the team as one of two co-captains, the second being regular skipper Maro Itoje who is named on the bench for the first time since 2017.
There are only eight survivors from the 25-7 victory over Australia that opened the autumn and just six retain the same starting jersey with Tommy Freeman moving to the wing and Ben Earl slotting in at openside flanker.
Earl’s back row move is to accommodate Chandler Cunningham-South’s first start at number eight as head coach Steve Borthwick looks to build depth in the position following Tom Willis’ decision to join Bordeaux next season.
Ollie Lawrence makes his first appearance of the autumn having completed his recovery from the ruptured Achilles that ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
Lawrence partners Fraser Dingwall in midfield and they will operate outside Fin Smith, who has ousted George Ford from the number 10 jersey against the Islanders.
Ford is omitted from the 23 entirely due to Borthwick continuing with the six-two split between forwards and backs on the bench, which sees Ben Spencer and Henry Arundell provide cover behind the scrum and Henry Pollock retain his super-sub role.
Freddie Steward has failed to recover from his hand injury so Marcus Smith is given the full-back duties having missed the Wallabies victory entirely. If Fin Smith is injured during the match, his namesake will take over as chief conductor.
The ankle problem suffered by Tom Roebuck results in Freeman’s return to the wing after being tried out at outside centre against Australia.
“It was a pleasing start to the series against Australia last weekend and we know we’ll need to take another step forward against Fiji,” Borthwick said.
“The focus for us this week is on improving on last weekend’s performance and continuing to develop our game.
“Fiji are a dangerous team with power and quality right across the pitch. They play with physicality and skill, so we’ll need to bring intensity, accuracy and discipline in everything that we do.”
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 6, 2025
England team to play Fiji
Forwards: 1 Ellis Genge (Co-captain, Bristol Bears), 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), 3 Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), 4 Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), 5 Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), 6 Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), 7 Ben Earl (Saracens), 8 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Backs: 9 Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), 10 Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), 12 Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), 13 Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), 14 Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), 15 Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Replacements: 16 Jamie George (Saracens), 17 Fin Baxter (Harlequins), 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), 19 Maro Itoje (Co-captain, Saracens), 20 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), 21 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), 22 Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), 23 Henry Arundell (Bath Rugby)