Tuesday 18th September 2007
England head coach Brian Ashton has announced his side that will play Samoa at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes on Saturday.
Following the world champions' mauling at the hands of South Africa, Ashton has been boosted by the timely return from injury of Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley, who feature at fly-half and inside centre respectively.
Elsewhere, Joe Worsley, Mark Cueto, Mathew Tait and George Chuter replace Tom Rees, Jason Robinson, Jamie Noon and Mark Regan for England's penultimate Pool A fixture.
Wilkinson and Barkley will take the places of Andy Farrell, who drops to the bench, and Mike Catt, who misses out on the matchday 22 altogether after failing to impress in Saint Denis.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Dallaglio has failed to force his way back into the squad as Ashton sticks with Harlequins' Nick Easter at number eight.
The Samoa clash sees just one member of England's backline retain his place as Wasp Paul Sackey seemimgly did enough to keep his jersey on the wing. Josh Lewsey switches to full-back to cover the injured Jason Robinson in a much more attacking line-up.
The Islanders enter the game on the back of a 19-15 defeat to Tonga, who sit in second position behind the Springboks in the Pool.
Therefore, a loss for either team would mean an early exit from the tournament in France.
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Paul Sackey, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 Martin Corry, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 George Chuter, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Mark Regan, 17 Perry Freshwater, 18 Steve Borthwick, 19 Lewis Moody, 20 Peter Richards, 21 Andy Farrell, 22 Danny Hipkiss.
Date: Saturday, 22 September, 2007
Kick-off: 16:00 (15:00 BST, 14:00 GMT)
Venue: Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Referee: Alan Lewis
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray, Alain Rolland
Television match official: Bryce Lawrence
Assessor: Ian Scotney
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