Eddie Jones urges England's new faces to seize opportunity as they bid to end wait for South Africa win

England chance: Elliot Daly will make his first England start against South Africa
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Chris Jones10 November 2016

Eddie Jones has urged England's 'new faces' to seize their chance after revealing his team for the first Test against South Africa.

Elliot Daly will make his first start while Tom Wood has been given the problem No7 jersey as Jones makes six changes for the clash on Saturday.

Daly is picked ahead of Jonathan Joseph and Wood comes in for Teimana Harrison, who started the final Test of England’s summer tour of Australia which saw them beat the Wallabies 3-0.

Joseph has been a fixture in the England midfield since Jones succeeded Stuart Lancaster as head coach but Daly gets the nod following his excellent form for Wasps and an ability to kick 50 metre penalties, although the Bath back will be on the replacements’ bench.

Also missing from the team who beat Australia 44-40 are the injured Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Jack Nowell and Michael Watson. Locks Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes — winning his 50th cap — come in, with Marland Yarde on the right wing and Johnny May on the left, after recovering from a serious knee injury.

This is Wood’s first game under Jones, who is on a nine-game unbeaten run since taking over as head coach at the start of the year. The Northampton forward is effectively sixth-choice openside due to injuries to James Haskell, Jack Clifford, Sam Jones, Mike Williams and Itoje.

Jones is set to give debuts to replacements Nathan Hughes, the Fijian-born Wasps No8 who only qualified on residency in the summer, former rugby league star Ben Te’o and Harlequins prop Kyle Sinckler.

Victory in the Old Mutual Wealth series opener at Twickenham will end England’s 10-year wait for a win over the Springboks.

Jones said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to show how much depth we have in English rugby. With a few influential players not available this is a great opportunity for some of the new faces to put both feet forward and we’re backing them to do the job for us.

“Test matches are always about the contest up front and South Africa pride themselves in the set piece, but we’ll be ready for the challenge.

“We can’t wait to get back to Twickenham and make this a game to remember. It’s a very special stadium and we hope the crowd really gets behind us. We want to make Twickenham an intimidating place for opposition teams to play at.”

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