Steve Borthwick has made five changes to his England starting XV for Saturday's Nations Championship opener against the Springboks at Ellis Park, with George Martin handed the unenviable task of replacing the absent Maro Itoje at lock.
Martin, who recently joined Saracens from Leicester, wears the six jersey alongside Ollie Chessum as England look to match South Africa's lineout and physicality. Former Leicester teammate Jack van Poortvliet starts at scrumhalf, preferred over Alex Mitchell and Ben Spencer.
George Furbank and Manny Feyi-Waboso return to the backline, replacing Elliot Daly and Tom Roebuck respectively. Furbank's last Test start was in November 2024, while Feyi-Waboso missed the entire Six Nations through injury. Tom Curry is also recalled at flanker, with Borthwick opting for the experience of Curry and Ben Earl over the widely touted Henry Pollock, who starts on the bench alongside Guy Pepper.
England head into the match having lost their last four Tests, and have not won at Ellis Park since 1972.
"Playing South Africa at Ellis Park is one of the great Tests in world rugby and an opportunity we're excited to embrace," Borthwick said.
England: Furbank (Harlequins); Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), Freeman (Northampton), Atkinson (Gloucester), Murley (Harlequins); F Smith (Northampton), Van Poortvliet (Leicester); Genge (Bristol Bears), George (Saracens, capt), Heyes (Leicester), Coles (Northampton), Martin (Saracens), Chessum (Leicester), T Curry (Sale), Earl (Saracens). Replacements: Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Obano (Bath), Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Ewels (Bath), Pepper (Bath), Pollock (Northampton), Mitchell (Northampton), Smith (Harlequins).