England rest Farrell and Itoje for Argentina Test

England have rested Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje for Saturday's autumn series opener against Argentina at Twickenham.

Red Rose head coach Eddie Jones had indicated he would stand down some of his British and Irish Lions due to their involvement in the summer tour to New Zealand and he has chosen to omit Farrell and Itoje from the matchday 23.

Henry Slade replaces Farrell at inside centre, holding off the challenge of Alex Lozowski who is named on the bench, and it is George Kruis and Courtney Lawes who are paired in the second row.

The openside duel has been won by Sam Underhill with his fellow rookie Tom Curry initally named among the replacements before being ruled out through injury. Exeter's Sam Simmonds takes his place and could win a first England cap.

"This is our best 23 selected in what is our most important game this year," Jones said.

"We know that Argentina is a strong team - they were World Cup semi-finalists in 2015 - and we will have to be smart and play well to beat them."

Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson have been named on the wings after Jonny May failed to recover from a hamstring strain in time to be involved against the Pumas.

Daly was expected to miss the clashes with Argentina and Australia because of knee ligament damage but the injury was not as bad as his scan suggested and he has been passed fit.

The versatile Wasps threequarter's path back into the team was cleared when May was ruled out.

Semesa Rokoduguni, alongside May the Aviva Premiership's most potent finisher, features on the bench having been jettisoned by Jones last autumn when he made his only previous appearance under the Australian.

England's embarrassment of riches in the second row means Joe Launchbury must settle for a place on the bench, where he is joined by Jamie George.

George started all three Lions Tests against the All Blacks but Dylan Hartley is Jones' preferred hooker and he continues to lead the team.

"As a squad we have been preparing for this game since our first camp in August and are excited about playing in front of 82,000 fans at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday," Jones said.

England's autumn series continues against Australia a week later before concluding against financially-stricken Samoa on November 25.

England XV: M Brown (Harlequins); A Watson (Bath), J Joseph (Bath), H Slade (Exeter), E Daly (Wasps); G Ford (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); M Vunipola (Saracens), D Hartley (Northampton, capt), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), G Kruis (Saracens), C Robshaw (Harlequins), S Underhill (Bath), N Hughes (Wasps).

Replacements: J George (Saracens), E Genge (Leicester), H Williams (Exeter), J Launchbury (Wasps), S Simmonds (Exeter), D Care (Harlequins), A Lozowski (Saracens), S Rokoduguni (Bath).

source: AFP