England have dropped George Ford and named Owen Farrell at fly-half for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Australia.
Coach Eddie Jones has made three changes in personnel and two positional switches in pursuit of a semi-final against either New Zealand or Ireland.
Mako Vunipola is restored at loosehead prop after successfully making his latest comeback from a hamstring injury against Argentina – which was England’s last outing after their Pool C finale against France was cancelled due to stormy weather.
Vunipola’s return means Joe Marler drops down to the bench where he joins second row George Kruis, who has lost his place in the starting XV to Courtney Lawes.
The two positional switches are Farrell’s shift to fly-half, with Ford dropping to the bench, and Tuilagi’s move from outside to inside centre.
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Jones said: “Australia are a clever team, they will have some specific attacking strategies to play against us so we need to have a great situational awareness.
“We need to defend with brutality and when we have the ball we need play on top of them.”
Billy Vunipola has recovered from the ankle injury sustained against Argentina nearly two weeks ago after proving his fitness in training on Wednesday, enabling him to continue at number eight.
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Jonny May, who averages a try every two games, wins his 50th cap on the left wing six years after making his debut against Argentina.
“It’s a great achievement and an honour for Jonny and his family. Everyone in the team is really pleased for him,” Jones said.
