Seven switches for England

England have made seven changes to their starting side to face Romania at the weekend, with Mike Tindall among those included. [more]

Seven switches for England

England have made seven changes to their starting side to face Romania at the weekend, with Mike Tindall among those included.

Tindall, who received headlines for the wrong reasons after a night out in Queenstown last week, replaces Shontayne Hape in the centre, with 2005 Lions Mark Cueto and Jonny Wilkinson the other alterations to the backline.

Cueto makes his first appearance of the tournament having missed the opening two fixtures with a back problem as Delon Armitage makes way on the wing.

Wilkinson takes over from Toby Flood at fly-half, with the Toulon veteran handed another chance to win that particular personal battle after a frustrating showing against Argentina on September 10.

Team manager Martin Johnson makes a further four changes in the forwards, with Alex Corbisiero coming in for Matt Stevens at loosehead as the latter continues to struggle with an ankle knock.

Steve Thompson is preferred to Dylan Hartley at hooker, while 2009 Lion Test Tom Croft returns to the blindside flank instead of Tom Wood and Louis Deacon comes in for Simon Shaw who is named among the replacements.

Northampton duo Ben Foden and Chris Ashton are both fit to start after recovering from side and elbow worries respectively.

Harlequins No8 Nick Easter is again ruled out with a back injury so James Haskell continues in the middle of the back row.

England (vs Romania, Dunedin, Saturday, 7am BST)

Ben Foden (Northampton Saints); Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks); Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Steve Thompson (London Wasps), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Lewis Moody (Bath Rugby, captain), James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams)

Replacements: Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), David Wilson (Bath Rugby),Simon Shaw (Unattached), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Delon Armitage (London Irish)

NB Bold denotes Lion

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