Lions tourists Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley return to the England starting line up for Saturday’s clash with the All Blacks but Tom Croft drops to the bench.
Shaw and Worsley spent an extended time on the sidelines following the Lions’ summer tour of South Africa and both are now set to make their first start in the final game of the three-match autumn international series.
Shaw, who was one of the Lions’ stand-out performers in both the second and third Tests against the Springboks, was recalled to the England training squad this week after returning to club duty at the beginning of the month.
Former Lions skipper and now England team manager Martin Johnson has named the 36-year-old alongside current England captain Steve Borthwick in the second row despite Shaw having only played three times for his club so far this season.
Fellow Wasps and Lions star Worsley was involved as a second-half replacement against Argentina last weekend and did enough during his time on the field to earn a starting spot this time around.
But Worsley’s promotion means Tom Croft misses out, just as he did when Worsley was chosen to start the Lions’ historic third Test victory over the world champions in July.
Elsewhere, Johnson hands Biarritz centre Ayoola Erinle his first international start in place of Northampton’s Shane Geraghty as England seem destined to employ a straightforward approach against the All Blacks.
"Erinle and Worsley are great ball carriers,” explained Johnson.
"We know we will have to defend on Saturday but if you can bring those two players in it’s a great opportunity.
"The guys have to be able to defend and attack. It’s not that Shane or Tom have done anything wrong, it’s a case of picking a team to win the game.
"I’d rather win a game and then get criticised for style afterwards.”
2009 Lion Ugo Monye switches places with 2005 tourist Mark Cueto, with Monye moving to the wing and Cueto taking over at full back.
Sale utility back Matthew Tait is given a spot among the replacements and so is fit-again Bath prop David Wilson who started against Australia but missed the game against the Pumas through injury.
In total, England include eight Lions tourists, with Jonny Wilkinson, Tim Payne and Lewis Moody joining Cueto, Monye, Shaw and Worsley in the starting line up and Croft on the bench.
England (vs New Zealand, Twickenham, Saturday, November 21, kick-off 2.30pm)
Mark Cueto (Sale), Matt Banahan (Bath), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester), Ayoola Erinle (Biarritz), Ugo Monye (Harlequins); Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Paul Hodgson (London Irish); Tim Payne (Wasps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Duncan Bell (Bath), Simon Shaw (Wasps), Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain), Joe Worsley (Wasps), Lewis Moody (Leicester), James Haskell (Stade Francais)
Replacements: Steve Thompson (Brive), David Wilson (Bath), Louis Deacon (Leicester), Tom Croft (Leicester), Danny Care (Harlequins), Shane Geraghty (Northampton), Matthew Tait (Sale)
Bold denotes Lion
