London: England coach Stuart Lancaster named on Tuesday an unchanged 23 to play Australia at Twickenham on Saturday but said he was still considering who to start in midfield.
Lancaster’s men ended a run of five straight defeats with a 28-9 victory over Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday, a match where Bath fly-half George Ford impressed on his first Test start, with regular No.10 Owen Farrell moved across to inside centre.
Ford will be given a chance to show what he can do at stand-off against tier one level opposition after showing some neat touches against the Pacific Islanders.
But Lancaster is still considering his midfield combination, although Brad Barritt seems set to retain his place at outside centre after three straight starts following the England head coach’s decision to release Luther Burrell back to English champions Northampton.
“Now we have a decision to make at 12 around Billy Twelvetrees and Owen,” Lancaster said Monday.
“I think George deserves the right to start again. He played well enough to do that.
“Billy brought good energy to the team from the bench too. He’s worked hard on the areas we gave him feedback on when he came back into camp.”
James Haskell, who started at blindside flanker against Samoa, is vying with Tom Wood and Ben Morgan for two places alongside England captain Chris Robshaw in the back-row after Exeter Chiefs’ No.8 Thomas Waldrom was released back to his club side.
“It was great to get the win last week and the whole 23 did well so we want to give those guys another chance against an Australian team who will want to finish their season on a high,” added Lancaster.
Saturday’s match has been given added spice by the fact 2015 World Cup hosts England are in the same pool as Australia at next year’s global showpiece tournament.
England’s win over Samoa came just hours after Australia went down 26-23 to Ireland in Dublin.
It was Australia’s second straight loss under new coach Michael Cheika following last week’s equally narrow 29-26 defeat by France.
England too have had a similar experience against top-class opposition this month, suffering three-point defeats by world champions New Zealand (24-21) and South Africa (31-28) at Twickenham before overcoming Samoa.
Both England and Australia are set to name their starting line-ups for the November finale on Thursday, with Wallabies outside centre Tevita Kuridrani already ruled out due to an ankle injury.
The 23-year-old suffered the setback during the Ireland match and his absence will be a blow to Australia given the Fiji-born centre has scored three tries in his last six games.
His absence could see Cheika recall Kurtley Beale for what would be his first Test start since the investigation into a lewd message he sent to former team business manager Di Patston that the utility back described as a “silly, stupid, schoolboy prank”.
Beale came off the bench in Dublin.
Australia have only won one of their three games so far this month, a 33-28 victory over Wales in Cardiff.
