Much-changed England told to ignore World Cup and put team first against Japan

England’s World Cup hopefuls have been warned not to go off script when auditioning for a place on the plane next year after Steve Borthwick rang the changes to his side to face Japan on Saturday, handing starts to rookies Will Joseph and Max Ojomoh as well as Henry Pollock.

Borthwick has made 10 personnel and two positional changes to his team to play Eddie Jones’s side with a glut of injuries, a handful of players in need of a rest and the head coach’s determination to give those such as Joseph and Ojomoh, who line up on the right wing and inside centre respectively, the chance to shine. Pollock makes his second start, coming in at No 8, while the Northampton scrum-half Archie McParland is in line for a debut from the bench.

George Ford and Freddie Steward come in at fly-half and full-back to provide experience with Fin Smith rested and George Furbank injured as Marcus Smith again has to make do with a place on the bench.

Eight years ago, England limped to victory over Japan after Jones rotated his side, but such was the paucity of their performance Alex Lozowski, Alec Hepburn, Danny Care and Zach Mercer fell from contention for the following year’s World Cup. It has become known as “the Black Hole game” among players because so many international careers disappeared down it.

“I’m really aware that the narrative around World Cup selection exists,” said Borthwick. “We don’t avoid it. There’s probably 26 to 28 of the 33-man squad which is pretty clear. Kev Sinfield spoke really well about the performance and how everybody does well when the team performs.

“The team is always the most important thing. At the same time, it’s the balance between the team, self-sacrifice and self-expression. You’ve got players there that when the moment is right, and they’ll judge the moment, that self-expression comes through. So Will Joseph can get his hands on the ball and back himself in those moments. Go and beat the man in front of him.

“Similarly for Max Ojomoh. There are always moments where players go and express themselves. Max is one of the most talented players in English rugby. You can see what he can do with the ball in his hands. That’s one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to seeing him out there on Saturday.”

Borthwick was forced to make a number of changes with Ollie Chessum, Furbank, Seb Atkinson and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso unavailable due to injury, but the head coach also has an eye on next year’s World Cup with a six-day turnaround between their opener against Tonga and their second match against Zimbabwe.

Accordingly, he has changed his entire front-row with Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour starting, George Martin comes into the second row, Alex Coles moves to blindside and Ben Earl shifts to openside to allow Pollock to occupy the No 8 jersey.

Jack van Poortvliet, Henry Slade and the captain, Maro Itoje, are the only three who stay in the same positions as against Australia while Greg Fisilau, who made his debut off the bench last Sunday, is again among the replacements.

Itoje, who was named man of the match in the 2018 win over Japan, said: “If you have 15 players doing their own thing, it won’t look great. And then no one really shines. The message this week is that we want the very best of each and every one of these guys, whether it’s a Will Joseph or a Max Ojomoh. We want them to fully express themselves, but within the context of the team.”

Ford was captain of the side eight years ago. England went in at half-time 15-10 before Jones brought Farrell off the bench and after the match Ford said: “It was very disappointing in the first half; our attitude wasn’t quite there. That’s not good when you’re playing for England.”

He said on Thursday: “There’s individual opportunities and you can’t get away from that. We have addressed that. The big message this week is the team, how you can make the team play well, be a good team-mate.

“I’ve not really felt like anyone’s on their own agenda. But it was definitely worth addressing to make sure lads don’t put too much pressure on themselves individually.”