England select Saints back three for final Autumn Nations Series encounter

Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman will start on the wings with George Furbank at full-back.

Saints fly-half Fin Smith will be among the replacements.

It will be the final match of the Autumn Nations Series for England, who have so far suffered defeats to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa on successive weekends.

“We anticipate a tough challenge from a team that thrives on playing fast and with tempo,” said England head coach Steve Borthwick.

“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 face Japan: 15 George Furbank (Saints, 13 caps); 14 Tommy Freeman (Saints, 14 caps), 13 Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 30 caps), 12 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 68 caps), 11 Ollie Sleightholme (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, 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 96 caps) – captain, 3 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 44 caps); 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 87 caps) – vice-captain, 5 George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 18 caps), 6 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 55 caps), 7 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 39 caps), 8 Ben Earl (Saracens, 36 caps) – vice-captain

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 43 caps), 17 Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 5 caps), 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, uncapped), 19 Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 14 caps), 20 Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 10 caps), 21 Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 10 caps), 22 Fin Smith (Saints, 5 caps), 23 Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 2 caps).