Ashton to come in from cold

ago now and quite a journey in between,” said Ashton, below. “A couple of times I’ve thought that might have been my last chance. It’s nice to be closer to playing again.”

The enforced reshuffle left England chasing their tail having already lost half their first-choice pack to injury. But co-captain Owen Farrell, who will start at stand-off today, insists his side will be able to adapt.

“Manu seems in high enough spirits. With his history, it seems it’s not worth the risk. There are enough people on the field to have played centre and I can move there,” said Farrell.

“Ashy is someone that loves scoring tries, loves being around the ball and working hard so that he can put himself in those positions. That’s what he is exceptional at – better than anyone else.” England coach Eddie Jones has warned the game could be decided by a red card as the crackdown on high tackles moves to the Test arena.

The domestic season has been blighted by controversy as the sport gets tough on head contact because of concussion concerns.

England have lost Nathan Hughes and Alex Lozowski to suspensions picked up on club duty, but Jones has given his backing to the purge.

“If the game’s going to be better then that’s the price,” he said. “I was involved in the original committee about the tackle height and we need to make the game safer.

“Has common sense been applied to the law? You’re probably better than me to make judgments on that, but I think the law is right and we need to keep moving in that direction.

“Everyone said when they brought in outlawing the tip tackle that it would be a horrific situation. No one talks about a tip tackle now, do they? It’s out of the game.

“There will be an adjustment period that is always difficult but we’ll get through that adjustment period and the game will be safer. Personally I’m 100 per cent supportive of it.”