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Stuart Lancaster and Warren Gatland have named their lineups for Saturday’s must-win Pool A match in London. The winner will all but secure a place in the quarter-finals while the loser will require a win over Australia to have any chance of advancing.
Lancaster has opted for a new midfield with Owen Farrell coming in for the under-performing George Ford at flyhalf and Sam Burgess starting outside him at inside centre. Brad Barritt bumps over to outside centre, replacing the injured Jonathan Joseph. The latter is not expected to play any further part in the pool stages after suffering a rib injury against Fiji.
In the pack, Billy Vunipola takes over from Ben Morgan at the back of the scrum while both James Haskell and Alex Goode have been named on the bench after having played no part in thewin over Fiji.
Gatland, meanwhile, has made a number of changes from his side that defeated Uruguay in Cardiff on Sunday. Tomas Francis will play tighthead prop joining Gethin Jenkins and Scott Baldwin in the front-row. Bradley Davies will play behind them, starting with Alun Wyn Jones, while Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau both run out in the back row.
The halves see Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar named with changes to the midfield as Jamie Roberts and Scott Williams are the chosen combination. Liam Williams has been declared fit and will join George North and Hallam Amos in the back three.
England have won the past two meetings between the two, posting 29-18 and 21-16 scores at Twickenham and the Millenium Stadium respectively. Both teams won their opening World Cup matches as England outstripped Fiji 35-11 while Wales coasted through Uruguay 54-9.
ENGLAND
1 Joe Marler 2 Tom Youngs 3 Dan Cole 4 Geoff Parling 5 Courtney Lawes 6 Tom Wood 7 Chris Robshaw (capt.) 8 Billy Vunipola 9 Ben Youngs 10 Owen Farrell 11 Jonny May 12 Sam Burgess 13 Brad Barritt 14 Anthony Watson 15 Mike Brown
16 Rob Webber 17 Mako Vunipola 18 Kieran Brookes 19 Joe Launchbury 20 James Haskell 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 George Ford 23 Alex Goode
WALES
1 Gethin Jenkins 2 Scott Baldwin 3 Tomas Francis 4 Bradley Davies 5 Alun Wyn Jones 6 Dan Lydiate 7 Sam Warburton (capt.) 8 Taulupe Faletau 9 Gareth Davies 10 Dan Biggar 11 Hallam Amos 12 Jamie Roberts 13 Scott Williams 14 George North 15 Liam Williams
16 Ken Owens 17 Aaron Jarvis 18 Samson Lee 19 Luke Charteris 20 Justin Tipuric 21 Lloyd Williams 22 Rhys Priestland 23 Alex Cuthbert
