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Manu Tuilagi, Dylan Hartley named on England's bench for Australia

Manu Tuilagi could make his first England appearance since 2016. David Rogers/Getty Images

Manu Tuilagi and Dylan Hartley are both on the bench for England's final November international against Australia with Joe Cokanasiga named on the wing.

Tuilagi was originally named on the bench for England's opener against South Africa but was a late withdrawal with a groin injury. He then missed out on England's defeat to New Zealand and win over Japan but has been passed fit to feature in the matchday squad for Saturday's match against the Wallabies.

Hartley, England's co-captain, continues on the bench having been named among the replacements for last week's win over Japan with Jamie George keeping his place as starting hooker. Nathan Hughes, available again after serving his suspension, is also on the bench.

Cokanasiga gets the nod on the wing with Jack Nowell out injured while Brad Shields, Sam Underhill and Mark Wilson form the starting back-row.

"We've picked our best 23 for the Australia game," said coach Eddie Jones, after making nine personnel and three positional changes to the side that beat Japan last Saturday.

"We know they have a unique style of attack so our ability to defend that is going to be important. We are continually working on our strengths which is our set piece and our defence and they are areas that are progressing nicely."

Since losing to the Wallabies in the pool stage of the 2015 World Cup, England have won all five of the teams' meetings, including a 3-0 series sweep in Australia in 2016.

That World Cup game was the Wallabies' only success in their last five games against England at Twickenham.

They arrive on Saturday at the end of one of their worst years for decades, with last week's 26-7 victory over Italy taking their 2018 record to four wins from 12.

The Wallaby camp has been hit by a virus this week and coach Michael Cheika has delayed naming his team until later on Thursday.

Saturday's game will be the 50th meeting of the two teams, with England winning 23 and Australia 25.

The most famous of all of them took place 15 years ago to the day, when Jonny Wilkinson's last-gasp drop goal won the World Cup final in Sydney as England became the first and still the only northern hemisphere nation to win the sport's ultimate prize.

England team to face Australia:

15. Elliot Daly, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ben Te'o, 11. Jonny May, 10. Owen Farrell (co-captain), 9. Ben Youngs; 1. Ben Moon, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Courtney Lawes, 6. Brad Shields, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Mark Wilson

Replacements: 16. Dylan Hartley (co-captain), 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Charlie Ewels, 20. Nathan Hughes, 21. Richard Wigglesworth, 22. George Ford, 23. Manu Tuilagi

Information from Reuters contributed to this report