George Ford will start at flyhalf for England against Wales in Llanelli with captain Owen Farrell joining Henry Slade in the centres as coach Eddie Jones promises to up the intensity for a “brutal” match in the Autumn Nations Cup.

Ford returned from an Achilles injury to come off the bench in last week’s 18-7 win over Ireland and Jones will be looking for his incisive distribution on Saturday to fire a backline which looked sharp in the first half at Twickenham but failed to spark in the second.

“Wales are in a situation they probably relish,” Jones told reporters after naming his team on Thursday.

“They’ve been written off. They’re playing at the heart and soul of Welsh rugby at the Llanelli ground, so there’s a lot of symbolism for them, and nothing would make their season sweeter than having a win over England.

“We’re expecting a really tough, brutal sort of game from a very driven team.

“Twelve months ago, they were Grand Slam champions and three points away from making a World Cup final. They’ve got the same players. They’re a talented team and we’ll have to be at our best.

“We’ve had a great week’s training, we’ve just got to tidy up our attitude now to make sure we are 100 per cent ready to go at the start and play with an intensity that Wales have never faced before.”

Jones has stuck with Jonny May, Jonathan Joseph and Elliot Daly as his back three, with the returning Anthony Watson on the bench, as the only personnel change to the starting team is Ford in for injured centre Ollie Lawrence.

Jack Willis, who made a try scoring debut in the win over Georgia but then missed out on the Ireland game, is included on the bench, alongside fellow backrower Dan Earl.

Jones has opted for a 6-2 forward/backs split for his replacements, with returning hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, props Ellis Genge and Will Stuart and lock Jonny Hill named alongside scrumhalf Dan Robson.

A win or draw – and probably even a narrow defeat on Saturday – would mean England top their group and they would then expect to face France in the competition final at Twickenham on December 6.