England coach Borthwick plays it safe with two changes for Japan

LONDON : England coach Steve Borthwick has resisted the urge for a widespread shake-up of his team to play Japan on Sunday, with the recall of George Furbank and Tom Curry the only changes to the side beaten by South Africa last week.

After five successive defeats, England will expect to get back to winning ways against Eddie Jones's Japan team in their final match of the Autumn Series and Borthwick clearly decided this was no time to experiment.

Furbank reclaims his regular fullback spot from Freddie Steward, while Curry, who missed the last match after suffering a concussion against Australia, is back in place of Chandler Cunningham-South, who drops to the bench.

Alongside him are uncapped 20-year-old prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Fin Baxter, who replaces George Ford as flyhalf cover for Marcus Smith.

Japan have been thumped by France, New Zealand and Fiji in their last three games and England beat them 52-17 in June but Borthwick, who was an assistant coach with the country under Jones when they stunned South Africa at the 2015 World Cup, was talking them up after naming his team on Friday.

"We anticipate a tough challenge from a team that thrives on playing fast and with tempo," he said.

"Japan are a dangerous team so it’s important that we execute our game plan and maintain focus throughout the full 80 minutes."

England team to play Japan on Sunday (16.10GMT)

15. George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 13 caps)

14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 14 caps)

13. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 30 caps)

12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 68 caps)

11. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)

10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 38 caps)

9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 15 caps)

1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 65 caps) – vice-captain