England-Japan: Eddie Jones gives Guy Porter nod at outside centre, David Ribbans to make debut

Eddie Jones has made five changes for England’s match against Japan on Saturday, with Leicester’s Guy Porter getting the nod at outside centre while Northampton lock David Ribbans will make his Test debut.

England will be looking to bounce back from their one-point defeat to Argentina on Sunday with Jones starting Jack van Poortvliet at scrum-half while Sam Simmonds is in at No.8 and Jonny May returns on the wing.

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Porter, who has two caps from the summer tour of Australia, will play outside the partnership of Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell, with Manu Tuilagi dropped to the bench.

Simmonds’ inclusion means Billy Vunipola moves to the bench while May replaces Joe Cokanasiga, who has dropped out of the matchday squad.

Ribbans replaces Alex Coles, who made his Test debut against Argentina.

Elsewhere, Farrell retains the captaincy and Jamie George is named among the replacements after recovering from injury.

“We’ve worked hard this week to improve on last week’s performance,” Jones said.

“We’ve taken a good look at our preparation and we are happy with our position going into the game.

“We’ve made a few changes to the side as we play these four games in November. In particular with Manu we are balancing his workload.

“Japan are a very good and intriguing side. They play a unique type of rugby based on continuity and team cohesion and we’ll have to be at our best against them at Twickenham on Saturday.”

England XV to face Japan

Freddie Steward, Jack Nowell, Guy Porter, Owen Farrell (captain), Jonny May, Marcus Smith, Jack van Poortvliet, Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Kyle Sinckler, David Ribbans, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Tom Curry, Sam Simmonds.

Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Joe Heyes, Alex Coles, Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.