Eddie Jones has made two enforced changes to England’s XV for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales in Cardiff.
Prop Ben Moon and wing Jack Nowell will both start as the Red Rose’s head coach again insisted England were facing the best Welsh team ever who would be playing the biggest game of their lives.
Prop Moon comes in for crocked Mako Vunipola while Nowell will replace Chris Ashton, who has a calf problem, on the wing.
Jones’s side top the table after their bonus point victories over Ireland and France ahead of the meeting with Wales who are also unbeaten Wales.
And Jones insisted: “England and Wales is always a big game – intense rivals and there is the historical context to it – but for us it is our most important game because it is our next game and that is how we are treating it.
“It’s all about Wales, we are playing potentially the greatest team ever,” he said.
“Their players are full of emotion and it’s the biggest game they are going to play in their lives.
“We have had a good week just focusing on ourselves and focusing on getting our preparation right.
“Whenever you play against a Warren Gatland side you are playing against a side that is going to be very physical on the gain line,” Jones added.
“They are always very fit so you have to make sure you win the gain line and then find opportunities of where you are going to attack them.”
Nowell was expected to come in for Ashton who was recalled for the last game against France with Jones opting for Moon in the front row with Ellis Genge on the bench.
Wing Joe Cokanasiga and flanker Brad Shields, who have not featured so far in 2019, are among the replacements.
England: Daly; Nowell, Slade, Tuilagi, May; Farrell, Youngs; Moon, George, Sinckler, Lawes, Kruis, Wilson, Curry, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Williams, Launchbury, Shields, Robson, Ford, Cokanasiga.
