England start Yarde against Australia

England head coach Eddie Jones has named his team to play Australia’s Wallabies in Brisbane and started Marland Yarde instead of Jack Nowell.

Nowell was a regular starter in England’s Six Nations Grand Slam campaign but Jones has been swayed by Yarde’s performance against Wales two weeks ago.

Luther Burrell who also played against Wales wins the No.12 jersey while Owen Farrell comes into the side and pushes George Ford down to the replacements bench.

Despite Alex Goode’s form with Saracens Mike Brown retains the fullback jersey which makes Yarde’s selection the biggest surprise in the back.s

In the forwards Jones has largely stuck to the combination that won the Six Nations Grand Slam. Chris Robshaw and James Haskell start on the flanks with Bull Vunipola at eight.

Dylan Hartley retains the captaincy and starts with Mako Vunipola and Dan Cole on either side of him in the front row.

George Kruis and Maro Itoje remain as the locks with Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes on the replacements bench.

While there is no recognised back row replacement on the bench Itoje trained earlier in the week at flank and Launchbury and Lawes can both cover the position.

“We have picked a side to win in Brisbane,” said Jones.

“As always selection was tight and naturally players are disappointed, but we’ve gone with a 23 that has a good mix of experience and youth.

“We aim to win every Test match we play and I am pleased with our preparation since we landed in Australia. The group have acclimatised well, trained hard and there’s a buzz around the camp.”

England have never won a Test series in Australia and Jones urged his side to get the southern hemisphere tour off to a winning start and “create history”.

“If you look at England’s record in Australia it’s pretty ordinary,” he said.

“We’ve only ever won three games in Australia so it’s a great opportunity to put down a marker and create history. It’s important we get off to a positive start and we’ll arrive in Brisbane ready to play physical and aggressive rugby.It’ll be a great challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to meeting head on

“We’re excited to be playing against a strong Australian team in their backyard. The Wallabies are ranked second in the world and have the World Rugby coach of the year, so that’s why they start as favourites. There’s a lot of expectation on them to win the series convincingly.

“We have a young squad with an average age of 24 so we are still developing and improving. It’ll be a great challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to meeting head on.”

England

15. Mike Brown (vc) , 14. Anthony Watson , 13. Jonathan Joseph , 12. Luther Burrell , 11. Marland Yarde , 10. Owen Farrell (vc) , 9. Ben Youngs , 8. Billy Vunipola (vc) , 7. James Haskell , 6. Chris Robshaw , 5. George Kruis , 4. Maro Itoje, 3. Dan Cole, 2. Dylan Hartley (c) ,1. Mako Vunipola

Replacements : 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie , 17. Matt Mullan , 18. Paul Hill , 19. Joe Launchbury , 20. Courtney Lawes , 21. Danny Care , 22. George Ford , 23. Jack Nowell