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Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer
England have turned to uncapped Sale Sharks prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour as Joe Marler’s replacement ahead of Australia on Saturday.
England welcome the Wallabies to the Allianz Stadium at Twickenham off the back of a heartbreaking 24-22 defeat to New Zealand.
Steve Borthwick has made two changes to the 36-man squad with Opoku-Fordjour and Charlie Ewels both coming in.
Marler announced his retirement from international rugby on Sunday. He was part of the squad named ahead of the All Blacks, but decided to call time on his England career at the start of the autumn series.
In his place, Opoku-Fordjour, 20, will get his chance to impress and can cover both loose-head and tight-head in the squad. England have previously seen him as a No. 1 in age-grade rugby, while he has featured for Sale at No. 3 this season.
Elsewhere, second-row Ewels replaces his Bath teammate Ted Hill in the group.
England’s 36-player squad
Forwards: Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Tom Curry, Theo Dan, Trevor Davison, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Nick Isiekwe, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill.
Backs: Elliot Daly, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Lawrence, Alex Lozowski, Luke Northmore, Harry Randall, Henry Slade, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet.
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