Henry Pollock will make his first England start in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland as one of three changes in personnel to the side defeated by Scotland.
Pollock lines up at number eight as part of a reshaped back row that sees Ben Earl move to openside and Tom Curry come in at blindside, with Sam Underhill and Guy Pepper dropping to the bench.
Pollock, the 21-year-old British and Irish Lion who made his England debut in last year’s Six Nations, has won all seven of his previous caps as a replacement.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has also adjusted his midfield by pausing the experiment of picking Tommy Freeman at outside centre, instead reinstating him on the wing.
Ollie Lawrence fills the number 13 jersey in his first appearance of this year’s Six Nations and Henry Arundell continues on the left wing. Tom Roebuck makes way for Freeman on the right wing.
Arundell escaped a ban after being sent off in the defeat to Scotland.
Arundell was shown two yellow cards in the first half of the 31-20 loss at Murrayfield in round two, with the second resulting in a 20-minute red card, thereby triggering a citing.
However, a disciplinary hearing held on Tuesday decided that the “sending off of the player had been a sufficient sanction and no further sanction was appropriate”.
Meanwhile, Jamie Ritchie, Jamie Dobie and Jack Dempsey have all left the Scotland camp to have injuries assessed by their clubs, Scottish Rugby has confirmed.
The key trio started Saturday’s Calcutta Cup triumph over England at Murrayfield but were all forced off before the end.
Perpignan flanker Ritchie suffered a knee injury, Glasgow number eight Dempsey went off with a bicep issue and Glasgow back Jamie Dobie has a shoulder problem.
They are no longer with the Scotland squad, who are currently training in Spain ahead of Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations trip to Wales.
England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Henry Arundell; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Heyes; Maro Itoje (capt), Ollie Chessum; Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Henry Pollock.
Replacements: Jamie George, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith.
Watch England v Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch France v Italy in the Six Nations on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player