The rookie prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour is in line for an England debut against Japan on Sunday, with Steve Borthwick expected to pick the 20-year-old on the bench.
Opoku-Fordjour was only called into Borthwick’s squad when Joe Marler announced his international retirement after this month’s defeat by New Zealand but caught the eye in last week’s England A victory over Australia at the Stoop. Before that match, Borthwick said: “I have been really positive about what I’ve seen from Asher,” and the Guardian understands Sale’s Opoku-Fordjour is in the frame for a place among the replacements when Eddie Jones locks horns with his former employers at Twickenham for the first time.