Saints star Smith dropped for All Blacks showdown while Freeman misses out through injury
Saints fly-half Fin Smith has been dropped by England for Saturday's huge Quilter Nations Series clash against New Zealand at Twickenham (ko 3.10pm).
The Northampton number 10 was recalled to the starting XV for last weekend's clash with Fiji, and produced a controlling performance to steer England to a 38-18 win.
England World Cup winner Matt Dawson hailed Smith's mature and classy showing, and backed him to stay at fly-half for the visit of the All Blacks.
He went as far as to say Smith ‘ is England's number one fly-half and he should start against New Zealand’.
But head coach Steve Borthwick has opted to leave Smith out of the match day 23, with George Ford being recalled to start at 10.
Marcus Smith, who started at full-back againts Fiji, drops to the bench to provide the half-back cover.
Borthwick has made a total of seven changes to the team that beat Fiji, and one of those changes sees Saints winger Tommy Freeman drop out having failed to recover from a hamstring strain picked up at the weekend.
Fellow Saints Fraser Dingwall, Alex Mitchell and Alex Coles all retain their starting places, while Henry Pollock is once again named on the replacements’ bench.
After his try-scoring cameo from the bench against Fiji, Maro Itoje returns to captain England, while Jamie George replaces Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker.
Freddie Steward and Tom Roebuck go straight back into the starting line-up after missing out against Fiji due to injury and Fin Baxter and Sam Underhill have also been selected.
Borthwick said: “I’m pleased with the progress we are making.
“Without doubt, New Zealand are one of the best teams in the world and facing them is always a special challenge.
“Playing in front of a packed-out Allianz Stadium means a huge amount to the players. The support we’ve had throughout this series has been outstanding, and we want it loud again on Saturday.”
England team to face All Blacks: Steward; Roebuck, Lawrence, Dingwall, Feyi-Waboso; Ford, Mitchell; Baxter, George, Heyes, Itoje, Coles, Pepper, Underhill, Earl. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Cunningham-South, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, M Smith