England name four uncapped players in 23 to face Wales

England head coach Eddie Jones has named his team to play Wales in their first World Cup warm-up, which includes four uncapped players in the 23-man squad.

George Ford (Leicester Tigers) will captain England, who have 390 caps in the starting XV.

Gloucester’s Willi Heinz is named at scrum-half but Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath), who was scheduled to start on the right wing, is out, meaning Joe Cokanasiga comes onto the right wing.

Meanwhile, Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints) is in for Sam Underhill after the Bath flanker suffered a toe problem.

The other late alteration due to injury is at centre as Jonathan Joseph is named in the line-up following Henry Slade’s withdrawal

Finally, there are two other potential debutants with Joe Marchant (Harlequins) and Jack Singleton (Saracens) named on the bench.

Anthony Watson will play on the left wing in his first Test since March 2018 following a long-term injury. Luke Cowan-Dickie is named at hooker and will make his first start in 12 matches for England.

“We have completed our four weeks of pre-season training and now we have moved into four weeks of warm up games ahead of the Rugby World Cup,” said Jones.

“Our focus has now changed to match preparation and fitness and creating a game that will stand up to the rigours of the tournament where we have to win seven games in sevens weeks.”

“Our team selection and tactics in our next four games are all about developing a team capable of winning in Japan and our overarching target of being ready when we get on the plane on the 8th of September to win the World Cup.

“We are looking forward to playing at Twickenham and giving the home crowd something to smile about.”

Captain Ford said: “This week we have had some great prep coming off the back of a great 12 days in Treviso where we did a lot of hard work in the heat and in the humidity out there.

“To get back here and have a game at the end of the week is great and we have turned our focus to tactically how we want to play the game, what we want to look like defensively and how we want to play with the ball in hand as well. We want to be adaptable and we keep on challenging ourselves in training to do that.”

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Anthony Watson, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Joe Marchant, 23 Manu Tuilagi

Date: Sunday, August 11
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 14:00 BST (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Alex Ruiz (France)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)