England has named what coach Mark Fowler believes is its strongest possible side for the Group D pool game against Fiji.

Fowler made six changes to his starting line-up for the side’s game against the USA, but an unconvincing 25-16 win, plus the Fijian’s unpredictability which saw them down New Zealanders 28-10 in their only game so far, means the England coach has picked the same line-up which defeated Lebanon convincingly in its opening game.

That means Gary Connolly and Derek Gateshead return for Martin Gleeson and Paul Deacon, while Jonny Wilkinson, James Lowes, skipper Paul Sculthorpe and Adrian Morley return to the starting line-up in place of Danny Orr, Paul Anderson, Jimmy Watts and Kevin Sinfield, who return to the bench.

A win would mean England would almost certainly finish top of the group barring a heavy defeat at the hands of New Zealand the following week.

England side to take on Fiji:

1 Kris Radlinski
2 Jason Robinson
3 Keith Senior
4 Gary Connolly
5 Marcus St Hiliare
6 Jonny Wilkinson
7 Derek Gateshead
8 Adrian Morley
9 James Lowes
10 Stuart Fielden
11 Andy Farrell
12 Jamie Peacock
13 Paul Sculthorpe
SUB Danny Orr
SUB Jimmy Watts
SUB Kevin Sinfield
SUB Paul Anderson