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Cokanasiga keeps place as England welcome Australia

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Joe Cokanasiga keeps his England place after his try-scoring debut against Japan last weekend, as Eddie Jones’ men prepare to wrap up their Autumn Internationals against Australia on Saturday.

Joe Cokanasiga keeps his England place after his try-scoring debut against Japan last weekend, as Eddie Jones’ men prepare to wrap up their Autumn Internationals against Australia on Saturday.

The Bath flyer is named on the right wing, with Jack Nowell and Chris Ashton both absent through injury, while Jonny May starts on the left and Elliot Daly completes the back three.

Jones has made nine changes to the side that came from behind to beat Japan 35-15, with props Ben Moon and Kyle Sinckler both coming in either side of Jamie George, who retains his place.

Courtney Lawes comes into the second row alongside last weekend’s man-of-the-match Maro Itoje, with Mark Wilson moving to No.8 and Sam Underhill and Brad Shields England’s starting flankers.

Owen Farrell, who starred from the bench against the Brave Blossoms, will start from the off against the Wallabies, while Ben Youngs comes in at scrum-half, with Ben Te’o and Henry Slade the pairing in the centres.

Manu Tuilagi could make his first England appearance since 2016 after being passed fit to feature among the replacements, while co-captain Dylan Hartley will break Jason Leonard’s England appearance record at Twickenham if he is called from the bench.

And on what will be almost 15 years to the day since England beat Jones’ Australia in the Rugby World Cup final, the coach has tasked his side to claim a significant scalp.

“Australia, we know are a traditional rival and we enjoy the occasion of playing them at Twickenham,” he said.

“The spirit of the fans has been outstanding. I think the atmosphere during these Quilter Internationals has been the best atmosphere I’ve certainly experienced and we encourage the fans to be at their robust best at the weekend.

“We’ve picked our best 23 for the Australia game. We know they have a unique style of attack so our ability to defend that is going to be important. We are continually working on our strengths which is our set piece and our defence and they are areas that are progressing nicely.

“I’m really happy with the direction we’re going in terms of the way we play the game. We are developing a unique style of rugby, which is English and the players are proud to play that way.

“The second part is the leadership of the team through the co-captaincy of Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell has been outstanding. We have seen growth in the togetherness of the team and I think we’ve seen that in the spirit in which they’ve played.”

England team to face Australia at Twickenham on November 24:

15. Elliot Daly, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ben Te’o, 11. Jonny May, 10. Owen Farrell (co-captain), 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Ben Moon, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Courtney Lawes, 6. Brad Shields, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Mark Wilson

Replacements: 16. Dylan Hartley (co-captain), 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Charlie Ewels, 20. Nathan Hughes, 21. Richard Wigglesworth, 22. George Ford, 23. Manu Tuilagi