Ludlam gets nod ahead of Vunipola for England’s World Cup clash with Japan
NO. 8: England's Lewis Ludlam.
Lewis Ludlam has been selected to start England’s second World Cup match against Japan on Sunday in the absence of Tom Curry, with Billy Vunipola making do with a place on the bench.
Ludlam impressed as a replacement in England’s 27-10 win over Argentina last weekend and gets the nod at No 8 with Ben Earl shifting to openside to replace Curry, who is suspended following his red card against the Pumas.
Elsewhere, as reported by the Guardian, Kyle Sinckler has recovered from a chest injury and takes his place at tighthead prop while Joe Marler makes only his second start since the 2020 Six Nations on the other side of the scrum. But it is the decision by Steve Borthwick to award Vunipola, who is available again after suspension, only a place among the replacements that surprises most.
When naming his World Cup squad on 7 August, Vunipola was the only specialist No 8 selected in the 33-man squad with Borthwick stating of the 30-year-old, who was only just back from a long-term knee injury at the time, that “we want him to play as much as he possibly can”.
Earl has been arguably England’s most impressive performer since then, however, and Ludlam caught the eye last weekend, making a staggering 11 tackles after coming on to the field after 65 minutes.
Sinckler’s return, meanwhile, delivers Borthwick a welcome boost. He started all five of England’s Six Nations matches but managed just two appearances as a replacement over their four summer warm-up fixtures. Dan Cole performed admirably last weekend but when fully fit, Sinckler is Borthwick’s first choice tighthead prop.
Marler started the warm-up match against Wales at Twickenham but before that had not begun an England game since the 2020 contest against Wales at Twickenham.
Elsewhere, Borthwick has stuck by the side who beat Argentina with Jamie George continuing at hooker, Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum again lining up at lock and Courtney Lawes captaining the side from blindside flanker.
Alex Mitchell makes his third start at scrum-half while George Ford - who kicked all 27 points against Argentina - stays at fly-half. Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant are the centres while Elliot Daly, Jonny May and Freddie Steward again make up the back three.
Ben Youngs comes on to the bench and is set to appear in his fourth World Cup while Ellis Genge, Theo Dan, Will Stuart, George Martin, Marcus Smith and Ollie Lawrence are also among the replacements.
F Steward; J May, J Marchant, M Tuilagi, E Daly; G Ford, A Mitchell; J Marler, J George, K Sinckler; M Itoje, O Chessum; C Lawes, B Earl, L Ludlam.
T Dan, E Genge, W Stuart, G Martin, B Vunipola, B Youngs, M Smith, O Lawrence.
S Masiwera; K Matsushima, T Osada, R Nakamura, J Naikabula; R Matsuda, Y Nagare; K Inagaki, S Horie, J Gu; J Cornelsen, A Fakatava; M Leitch, P Labuschagne, K Himeno.
A Sakate, C Millar, A Ai Valu, W Dearns, K Shimokawa, N Saito, D Riley, L Lemeki.
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