Bath lock Charlie Ewels will captain England A against Portugal in Leicester on Sunday for the team’s first fixture in eight years.
Ewels is joined by four other senior England internationals in the starting line-up, with scrum-half Harry Randall, hooker Jamie Blamire, prop Joe Heyes and flanker Tom Pearson also featuring.
Senior England hopefuls Oscar Beard and Max Ojomoh form the centre partnership, meanwhile, against a Portugal team that beat Fiji and drew with Georgia at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
It will be England A’s first match since 2016, when they were known as England Saxons and won two games against South Africa A.
England A head coach George Skivington said: “It has been great to get together with the group this week at Loughborough, and I have been really impressed by the high standards they’ve shown.
“I really believe we have assembled a squad that possesses some of the most exciting developing talent the Gallagher Premiership has to offer.”
England J Hodge (Exeter); C Murley (Harlequins), O Beard (Harlequins), M Ojomoh (Bath), W Muir (Bath); C Atkinson (Gloucester), H Randall (Bristol); F Baxter (Harlequins), J Blamire (Newcastle), J Heyes (Leicester), R Tuima (Exeter), C Ewels (Bath, capt), T Pearson (Northampton), G Pepper (Newcastle), A Barbeary (Bath).
Replacements: S Riley (Harlequins), T Haffar (Northampton), J Iosefa-Scott (Exeter), B Bamber (Sale Sharks), G Fisilau (Exeter), C Englefield (Gloucester), J Shillcock (Leicester), O Hartley (Saracens).
