Chris Ashton starts for England against New Zealand as Eddie Jones makes three changes

Eddie Jones has made three changes to England’s starting XV for Saturday’s crunch clash against New Zealand, including handing Chris Ashton a starting berth for the first time since June 2014.

Courtney Lawes returns from injury to take a place among the replacements, but there is no room in the matchday 23 for Manu Tuilagi, who was ruled out of the win over South Africa last week with a groin injury.

Ashton replaces Jack Nowell — who is on the bench — on the right wing, while there are two changes to England’s pack. One is forced, with Sam Underhill in for the injured Tom Curry at open-side flanker, but the other is tactical as Ben Moon replaces Alec Hepburn at loose-head prop. Lawes is one of two locks — both can cover the back-row — on a heavy-duty bench, with Bath’s Zach Mercer missing out.

Jones said England must lift their game if they want to beat the all-conquering All Blacks for the first time since 2012. Ashton scored in that game six years ago.

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“The expectation for Saturday is no different to any other Test match,” he said. “We want to be at our best, better than we were in the previous Test match and we want to play with pride and passion which ignites the fans.

“It’s been a good week, the players have recovered well, trained well on Tuesday, exceptionally well on Wednesday and we look forward to the challenge of taking on New Zealand.”

Underhill comes in for Curry, who picked up an ankle injury in the win over South Africa, in the No7 jersey and Neal Hatley, England’s scrum coach, said he is a player he sees “causing problems defensively” and “working hard over the ball”. Earlier this week, Steve Borthwick, the forwards coach, described him as “an excellent player, a really tough defender who hits hard and he is in great physical shape”.

Underhill last played Test rugby in the Six Nations. He is best remembered for a remarkable try and a match-saving tackle on Wales centre Scott Williams at Twickenham which he said this week was “a huge day, probably one of my favourite days playing rugby”.

Curry took his chance on the open-side when Underhill was ruled out of the summer tour of South Africa, but the Bath flanker is hoping to reassert himself on Test rugby in the tackle and at the breakdown.

“I would like to think I could offer something in defence,” he said. “That’s an area of the game I enjoy a lot and an area where I try to, not lead the way, but influence the way we do things there.”

He is joined in the back-row by Brad Shields and Mark Wilson, who keep their places after impressive showings against South Africa. It will be a particularly poignant occasion for Shields — the former Hurricanes captain and New Zealand Under-20 blind-side — who, until a year ago, harboured hopes of representing the All Blacks.

Knowing he was England-qualified, the 27-year-old joined Wasps and will win his fourth cap on Saturday. Mercer is unfortunate to lose his place on the bench after a decent showing on debut against the Boks last week.

Jones opted to mix up his arrangement in the front row, where England remain depleted. With his three favoured options at loose-head all injured or, in Joe Marler’s case, retired, Moon makes his first international start, with Hepburn taking the role of impact substitute.

That is how the Exeter pair operate at club level and the hope is that Moon’s selection will tighten up the set-piece in the first half before Hepburn is introduced for impact carrying as the game breaks up.

At tight-head, Kyle Sinckler has held off another Exeter man, Harry Williams, to keep his starting spot.

Winger Ashton produced some fine touches and neat support runs on his first Test appearance since 2014 in the win over South Africa from the bench. He is the only change in the backline, with Worcester centre Ben Te’o having doubled his season’s game-time in 72 minutes against South Africa retained at outside centre and Elliot Daly keeping his place at full-back after a mixed showing.

It was unclear at the time of the team announcement whether Leicester centre Tuilagi, who has played 17 minutes for England in the last four years, is injured once more or just overlooked.

Despite picking up a very minor groin injury which ruled him out of a place on the bench against Rassie Erasmus’s side, Tuilagi had trained this week.