Elliot Daly named on wing ahead of England return against Argentina

Elliot Daly will make his first appearance since the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia after being named on the wing for England‘s clash with Argentina on Sunday.

Daly starts the final match of the autumn at Allianz Stadium in place of Tom Roebuck, whose foot injury rules him out, and head coach Steve Borthwick makes six changes to the side that defeated New Zealand 33–19.

Daly’s Lions tour ended when he fractured his forearm against the Queensland Reds on July 2, an injury that required surgeons to insert a plate containing 16 screws.

Although a specialist cleared him to face New Zealand, the coaches decided the versatile 33-year-old needed another week before being ready for full contact, so he returns for the Pumas showdown..

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Changes

A bruising collision with the All Blacks caused autumn-ending injuries to Roebuck, Ollie Lawrence and Jamie George, while injuries had already ruled out Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman.

The knock-on effect sees Henry Slade take Lawrence’s place at outside centre, forming a midfield combination alongside Fraser Dingwall.

Luke Cowan-Dickie comes in at hooker to replace George, who is out with a hamstring issue, and he joins Ellis Genge and Asher Opoku-Fordjour in a new-look starting front row.

The coaches drop tighthead prop Joe Heyes, a breakout star of the campaign, from the 23 altogether, and they make one final change by putting Ben Spencer at scrum-half and moving Alex Mitchell to the bench.

Charlie Ewels makes his first appearance of the autumn amongst the replacements with Theo Dan providing hooker cover.

Dangerous

England are chasing an 11th consecutive victory and an autumn clean sweep having dispatched Australia, Fiji and New Zealand already this month.

Argentina will arrive at Twickenham on the back of a 33-24 win over Scotland in Edinburgh, a victory they secured after fighting back from a 21-0 deficit.

“Last weekend gave us plenty to build on and now the challenge is to push our performance further,” Borthwick said.

“Argentina play with emotion and physicality and they’ve shown they can beat the best in world rugby this year.

“We know how dangerous they can be and we are preparing for a fiercely-contested Test match.

“We have felt exceptional support at Allianz Stadium throughout this series.

“It provides a real lift for the players, and we hope to create lasting memories for our supporters on Sunday.”

The England team to face Argentina

England team: F Steward (Leicester Tigers); I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), F Dingwall (Northampton Saints), E Daly (Saracens); G Ford (Sale Sharks), B Spencer (Bath Rugby); E Genge (Bristol Bears), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), A Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), M Itoje (Saracens, capt), A Coles (Northampton Saints), G Pepper (Bath Rugby), S Underhill (Bath Rugby), B Earl (Saracens).

Replacements: T Dan (Saracens), F Baxter (Harlequins), W Stuart (Bath Rugby), C Ewels (Bath Rugby), T Curry (Sale Sharks), H Pollock (Northampton Saints), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints), M Smith (Harlequins).

READ MORE: England 33-19 New Zealand: Steve Borthwick’s side steamroll jaded All Blacks